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New Ipswich 



N THE 



War of the Rebellion 



What its Men ^ Women Did 



BY MRS, L. A, OBEAR 



New Ipswich, New Hampshire, July 15, 1898 



PRESS OF LUCIUS P. GODDARI> 

No. 425 Main Street 



mo 12 



ACKNO WLEDGMENT. 

I am indebted to a former resident of New Ij^swich^ Ilotu 
Rodney Wallace of Fitchburg^ 3Iass^ for ci generous dona- 
tion toward the pidylication of the book. 

Also to Gapt. Michael Donley — than ichom Kew Ipsicich 
se7it no braver soldier^ or truer man — for collecting^ largely^ 
the names of the men who '-'-went to the fronts l. a. o. 



1 



IntrodLiction. 

The War of the Rebellion has become a matter of history. 
The participants in its scenes who are left to us are growing 
gray and bent, and as they thread our streets, we notice that 
their steps are less vigorous than in their prime. 

The men and women, no less patriotic and ardent, who did 
what they could to aid and encourage those who went to the 
front, are also "in the sere and yellow leaf," and will soon be 
blown from life's tree, or have already passed on to a "Land 
of eternal peace." 

It is due to each of these classes, that what they did and bore 
for the Union should go down to their posterity. It is due to 
their posterity that they should receive such a legacy. That 
they may do so, this little book has been written. 

The author dedicates it to the citizens of the town in which 
she has had hajjpy citizenship for more than half a century. 

Mrs. C. H. Obear, 



^f?e ^art Jim Sp^iDicf) too6 in our (imi §5ar. 



Cliapter 1. 

The War of the Rebellion is hastening to take its place 
beside the War of the Revolution. Before it ceases to exist 
in the memory of the living, one who was actively engaged in 
the work of what has been styled " The Home Regiment," 
would like to rescue from going into oblivion the records of 
that regiment, detailing its part in the Civil war, from 1861 to 
its close in 1865. 

These records are contained principally in the books and 
papers of the " Soldiers' Aid Society," and in the daily jour- 
nal of a private citizen. This citizen, from his earnest sym- 
pathy with, and interest in the struggle going on with the 
shave power in the South, kept especial record of what was 
being done by New Ipswich in this fight for the perpetuity of 
the Union of the states, from its beginning to its close. The 
possession of these two sources of information, together with 
her own memories of the stormy times, give her courage to 
devote a winter's leisure hours to a detail of the service of the 
*' Boys in Blue" who went into the war from New Ipswich, and 
the service rendered by their fathers, brothers, mothers, wives, 
sisters, and sweethearts, left behind them. 

This home service began simultaneously with the recruiting 
of the company from this, and the neighboring towns of Tem- 
ple, Rindge, Peterboro, and Sharon, for field service. 

Of the men from New Ipswich in this and other companies? 
I propose to speak later. These first pages I shall devote to 
recalling the work of " The Soldiers' Aid Society." 



6 

Few towns began earlier than New Ipswich or continued 
more perse veringly till the end of the war, to send such stores 
as were needed in field, hospital, and camp. The strong anti' 
slavery sentiment of the town, which had existed for many 
years, had prepared her people to enter heartily into this con- 
flict with the slave power. Love of the Union and opposition 
to human bondage combined to make earnest fighters in the 
field, and earnest workers at home. 

Politicians may claim that a difference of opinion in refer- 
ence to state-rights caused the dissatisfaction in Congress and 
out, that led to our civil war. Those who look back on the 
struggle know that back of the discussion of state-rights was 
the ever growing conviction on the part of the North and 
West, that they were being forced into complicity with an in- 
stitution which belied our most solemn ] protestations of the 
right of all men to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

Few towns in New Hampshire sympathized more keenly in 
this feeling tlian New Ipswich. Early in the thirties, she had 
had her " Emancipation Society ;" then, " Anti-slavery," and 
"Abolition" societies. 

On the death of the Whig party in the early '40s, a " Liberty 
Party " had been organized. The first five men who cast their 
votes for that party in New Ipswich were prominent anti- 
slavery men. Among those who were the readiest to give 
assistance to the women who met weekly to prepare and send 
supplies to the Sanitary ai'd Christian Commission, they 
ever stood as walls of strength. Perhaps the names of these 
five men may be mentioned. They were Esq. John Preston, 
Nathan Sanders, Clark H. Obear, Wm. W. Johnson, and John 
P. Clark. The votes and the influence of these men continued 
till the death of each, to be cast into the party which they 
believed would best advance universal freedom, whether it was 
Liberty party, Free-soil, or Republican. 

The first mention of our civil war made by Mr. Obear in his 
journal is made under date of "April 15th, 186L" It read& 
thus : 



"News arrived Saturday that war has really commenced between the 
North and South, by the southern rebels firing into and taking Fort Sum- 
ter. The President has called for 75,000 men. God grant that the call 
may be fully responded to, and the government carried safely through 
the perils of rebellion and civil war! " 

The next record shows the prompt and loyal readiness with 
which the faculty and students of Appleton Academy and our 
citizens responded in patriotic action. Its date is a week after 

the reception of the news from Sumter, 

April 20th. 

'' Attended a meeting of students of Appleton Academy and citizens, to 

witness the raising of two flags on the Academy, purchased by the citizens. 

Bells rung, and cannon fired. The news from the South that civil war 

has actually begun seems to stir up the old spirit of '76 in old and young." 

The next record — not two weeks later — is dated 

May 2nd, 1861. 

" Town meeting in afternoon. Voted to raise $oO each to uniform a 
company; also to raise $2000, as it shall be needed, to provide for the 
families of those who shall enlist in the service of their country ; also $100 
to prosecute traitors. A committee of five was appointed to look after 
them." 

No further mention is made of the war in this journal till 
October 1801 — when the company previously mentioned was 
enlisted from this and the neighboring towns — except these 
two. 

" Sept. 2nd, 1861. Got home from Amherst at 8 o'clock. Found the 
village all out with the engines and companies, some thoughtless fellows 
having rung the town bell, on receiving a false report that Jeff Davis, the 
President of the rebels, was dead. Engine company pretty mad." 

"Sept. 20th. Fast Day throughout the country, appointed by the Presi. 
dent. Meeting at the Congregational Church, and in the evening at the 
"Chapel." 

As tliis Chapel is mentioned often in the records of the 
Soldiers' Aid Society, I will say here, it was a building used 
by the Congregational Church as a chapel, which was afterward 
burned. It stood on or near the spot now occupied by the 
engine-house and selectmen's room. 



SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY. 

The first record of the Soldiers' Aid Society, we co})y : 

New Ipswich, Oct. 14tb, 1861. 
Agreeably to notice, the citizens of New Ipswich met at the Chapel to 
organize a Soldiers' Aid Society. Rosea Eaton was chosen chairman, and 
Mrs. E. T. Quimby, clerk. An appeal was read from the U. S. Sanitary 
Commission to the loyal women of the country, in behalf of onr soldiers. 
It was then voted to form a Society, and the following persons were 
appointed to prepare a constitution : Mrs. Abby M. Cummings, 

Mrs. C. H. Obear, 
Mrs. E. T. Quimby. 
Adjourned to meet Wednesday, Oct. IGth. 

"Oct. 16th, 1861. Met according to adjournment. The meeting was 
called to order by the secretary. Chose Mrs. C. H. Obear president for 
the evening. The records of the last meeting were read by the secretary, 
and the report of the committee on preparing Constitution was read, and 
the Constitution as reported by them was adopted and signed. The fol- 
lowing officers were chosen : 

Mrs. Stepuen Thayek, President, 

Mrs. Ephkaim Fox, Mrs. James Bennett, Vice Presidents, 

Mrs. Newton Bkooks, Secretaiy. 

''One or more from each of the school districts were chosen as Execu- 
tive Committee. Another generation may like to read their names: 

" Dist. No. 1, Miss Louisa Pratt, Miss Fanny King; No. 2, Mrs. Hor- 
ace Brown; No. 3, Miss Margaret Pierce; No. 4, Mrs. Dr. Jones, Mrs. 
John U. Davis, Mrs. George Gibson; No. 5, Mrs. Jonas Nutting, Mrs. 
Dea. Hildreth; No. 6, Miss Ellen Brown; No. 7, Miss Maria Bagley, Mrs. 
Dana Locke; No. 8, Mrs. Chas. Walton; No. 9. Mrs. Walton Brooks; 
No. 11, Mrs. James Spaulding, Mrs. James Eaton; No. 12, Mrs. N. Y. 
Oliver, Mrs. Wright; No. 13, Mrs. E. A. Barrett. 

"Voted to adjourn to meet in one week." 

Tlie subsequent meetings of the Society were regular and 
frequent for the next month. From the records of the secre- 
tary we will transci-ibe only the important items, giving side 
by side with tliem, quotations from Mr. Obear's Journal that 
throw light on the action of the Soldiers' Aid Society and the 
town, in aid of the Civil War. 

" Oct. 24th, 1801. Met at Union Ilall. Meeting called to order by the 
president. Prayer offered by Kev. J. Eaton, Methodist. This meeting 



was an informal one to discuss measures to arouse a general interest iu 
the objects of the S. A. Society. The records of the previous week were 
called for, and the reading of the Constitution and By-Laws of the 
Society. 

(Both the secretary and the journal reported a very full attendance.) 
" A committee of three, consisting of P. H. Clark, C. H. Obear and 
E. T. Quimby was chosen to solicit names to the Constitution, and secure 
the admission fees of those who had already become members of the 
Society. Meeting adjourned for one week." 

We will here introduce tlie Constitution and By-Laws of 
this organization wliicli was so generally enlisting the atten- 
tion of our citizens, male and female. The enthusiasm kin- 
dled by a common cause— resistance to the dissolution of the 
union between the states of our country, and to the aggres- 
sions of the slave-] )Ower— broke down the walls of partition 
between sect and sect, ]>arty and party, and it is believed, 
helped to bind more firmly the union of the 1st and 2nd Con- 
gregational churches, which had led a separate existence as 
churches for several years. 

PREAMBLE. 

Whereas, our country has become involved in an unhappy war, we, 
the undersigned, ladies of New Ipswich, feel called upon by our patriotism 
and love of our free institutions, to unite our efforts to promote the com- 
fort and well-being of the soldiers who have left friends and homes to 
fight our battles. We do therefore freely form ourselves into a society, 
to be called the Soldiers' Aid Society. 

CONSTITUTION. 

Article 1st. Any lady may become a member of this society by giv- 
ing her name to the executive committee or the secretary, and paying ten 
cents, and gentlemen who pay twenty-five cents will be considered mem- 
bers for one year. 

Airr. 2nd. The officers of this society shall be a president, two vice 
-presidents, a secretary, treasurer, and an executive committee, to consist 
of one or more from each school di^^trict. 

Art. 3d. The duties of the officeis shall be such as usually pertain to 
such offices in similar organizations, together with such special duties as 
shall hereafter be specified. 

Art. 4th. The executive committee shall solicit in their respective 
districts, members for the society, and collect and deliver to any place the 
president may designate, such ai tides as the Sanitary Commission shall 



10 

specify, as are needed by our soldiers. They shall also perform such other 
duties as shall be directed by the president. 

Art. 5ih. The president, vice presidents, secretary and treasurer, 
shall constitute a Board of Directors, to purchase material and arrange 
work for the society. 

Art. 6th. The annual meeting of the society shall be held the third 
Wednesday in October, at which time the officers shall be elected by bal- 
lot for the ensuing year. 

Art. 7th. There shall be a meeting of the society each week to do 
such work as will best advanct; the object we have in view, the time and 
place of meeting to be decided by the society. 

Art. 8th. Each meeting shall be opened by prayer. 

Art. 9th. No money shall be paid from the treasury except by written 
order of the president. 

Art. 10th. This constitution may be amended by a vote of two thirds 
of the members present at any regular meeting, provided the amendment 
has been proposed and a copy left with the secretary at a previous meeting. 

BY-LAWS. 

Article 1st. Gentlemen not members of the Society shall be required 
to pay five cents admission to each of its meetings. 

Art. 2nd. The president shall be required to prohibit at the meetings 
of the Society everything which is not directly advancing our object. 

Art. 3rd. The secretary shall furnish each of the executive committee 
with a copy of the constitution and by laws of the Society, and a list of 
the articles specified by the U. S. Sanitary Commission as needed by our 
soldiers. 

Art. 4th. These by-laws may be amended by a vote of two thirds of 
the members present at any regular meeting. 

It will be seen that the men and women of New Ipswich 
were thoroughly in earnest in their intention to give what aid 
the} might, time, labor, and money, to encourage the hearts> 
and strengthen the hands of those who had gone out to lielp 
maintain the struggle for the preservation of the Union. 

One hundred and nineteen names were attached to the con- 
stitution, at the first meeting, and one hundred and forty-five 
more were soon obtained by the executive committee, and the 
three gentlemen chosen to supplement their work. 

The district committee, going from house to house, met with 
cordial response from the women and children — fifty, and 



11 

twenty-five cents often being given, instead of the prescribed 
ten, and the men paying fifty cents, a dollar, or even two, as 
membership fees. 

This money was immediately converted into material with 
whicli to make the garments, or purchase the comforts, called 
for by the two Commissions, or by any especial emergency. 
'^Levees," and other forms of social gathering were held from 
time to time. 

The Clark Troupe gave a concert for the society's benefit ; 
and the writer remembers how our hearts were cheered by a 
donation of money from Esq. John Preston, which he came 
out of his office to put into the hands of the president, on her 
way to the Soldiers' Aid meeting. 

At the same time, an elderly woman, not gentle, nor refined, 
presented herself at the Chapel, with a request for yarn to 
knit, for the soldiers, at home. Having done her errand, she 
put two dollars into the hand of the president, naming the 
donor. We were a little surprised, as the name she g-ive was 
that of a man who was supposed not to be in sympathy with 
our Avork. We were afterward told that Mrs. Nutting, in 
whose heart burned love of country, and in whose breast was 
the milk of human kindness, was seen to come out of her house 
to intercept the man as he passed her house in *a wagon. Lay- 
ing one hand on the wheel of the wagon, and the other on the 
knee of the man, as he sat, she made rude but eloquent appeal 
for " the poor boys away from their homes, tired, and hungry 
and sick, and wounded ; while," she added, " your four boys 
can go to bed safe in their own homes, and by day, help you 
earn the money I ask you for." She prevailed to the amount 
she brought us. 

During the first years of the Society's work, the members 
were cheered by the letters of the women at the head of the 
*'New England Women's Auxiliary of the U. S. Sanitary 
Commission," in Boston. Their work was largely confined to 
supplies for field-hospitals, government attending to the gen- 



12 

eral hospitals. Boston was tlie centre of supplies sent from 
New England, and the noble Momen of Boston were depended 
on for the information needed to enable the country societies 
to give intelligent aid. 

The letters coming to us from widely known Boston women 
commending, as they often did, the supplies sent by us ( and 
always promptly acknowledged ), as especially judicious and 
approi>riate in their adaptation to the wants of those we were 
trying to assist, were an inspiration to us. 

I will copy one of the letters, selecting it from many, as it 
came from a descendant of an old New Ipswich family. 

Boston, Apr. 29th, 1862. 

Madam: I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of a box, con- 
taining most valuable and tiraeJy contribution to the Sanitary Commission. 
You will be glad to know that the greater part of the contents will be sent 
immediately to help furnish the Floating Hospital before Yorktown. I 
enclose a short account of them, and also one of the latest circulars we 
have received from Washington. 

I am particularly glad tliat it falls to mij lot to write this acknowledg- 
ment, for these substantial proofs of the good judgment, as well as the 
patriotic devotion of your Society, make me more than ever proud to con- 
sider myself, if not a native, a descendant of New Ipswich. 

Very respectfully yours, 

F. Appleton, for Ex. Committee. 

I find among the papers of the Society, other letters exj^res- 
sive of satisfaction with the contents of boxes and barrels sent, 
and complimentary to those who had prepared them. 

Among these none deserved more praise than the first vice 
president of the Society, Mrs. Helen M. Fox. Early in the 
year, Mrs. Stephen Thayer became unable to attend, and Mrs- 
Fox assumed the duties of ])resident. Indefatigable in her 
efforts to obtain a knowledge of what was most needed, and 
through what sources such stores could most immediately and 
most economically be sent to the front, Mrs. Fox with patriotic 
ardor and untiring zeal, devoted herself unsparingly to the 
work of aiding the soldiers. 

One overwhelming subject of interest, "How best to serve 
those who had been called to take arms for the Union," so 



pervaded the public mind that personal jealousies and petty 
animosities were laid aside, and superior ability in any direc- 
tion, or opportunities for information, were gladly utilized. 

During the first six months tliere would sometiines seem to 
be rival claims on the resources of the society. 

Government was generous, but had yet to learn how to i)ro- 
vide for her soldiers. General hospitals were early provided 
liberally, but there was much unrelieved suffering in field 
hospitals remote from centers of supplies. To these the 
United States Sanitary Commission were admitted, and 
allowed to go on to the battlefields to render assistance, when 
to wait for it would be fatal. 

They established in the cities on the route from the seat of 
war to their homes. Soldiers' Relief Rooms. Persons appointed 
to the duty, met at the stations nearest them, the convalescent 
or worn out " boys in blue," and entertained and supplied 
their most urgent needs, and bade them God speed on their 
way to the anxious ones awaiting their coming in their homes. 
Our first supplies were sent to the New Hampshire regi- 
ments about Washington. The State had an agent there to 
look after the comfort of her troops especially. 

A valuable box was sent to Kansas, in response to an appeal 
from Mr. Lyman Chandler, in behalf of a field hospital in im- 
perative need. The sympathies of our people had been called 
to that state during the agitation of the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise, and the attempts of the so-called « border 
ruffians " to force slavery into the constitution of the new 
coming state. 

Mr. Chandler was a native of New Ipswich, and John 
Brown of Ossawatomie, was in the minds of the Soldiers' 
Aid when they voted to respond to this appeal, as well as the 
needs of the distant hospital, and we sent at what we later 
found was a heavy freight bill of twenty-six dollars, the only 
unwise investment of our money. We soon found that the 
greatest good of the greatest number was subserved, and sup- 



u 

plies more economically and expeditiously forwarded through 
the Sanitary Commission, and later also through the Christian 
Commission, gotten up by the Young Men's Christian Associ- 
ation of New York City, the headquarters at Philadelphia. 
This association supplied, in addition to the physical comforts 
and sanitary aids of the other, religious and secular reading, 
and through chaj)lains and others^ whose services were given 
free of charge, rendered essential aid in giving religious 
instruction, attending the dyeing, helping them communicate 
with friends by letters they were unable to write themselves, 
etc., etc. Some of us recall how one of these chaplains from 
a neighboring town, Rev. Bancroft Hill, fell at the post of 
duty in the southwest. Mr. Hill had gone down from the 
Christian Commission tent to a train which was expected to 
bring in wounded men. He was run over by a car and his 
arm taken off. The wounded Christian hero said, raising the 
remaining arm, " Thank God, I have still one arm left to 
serve God and my country with ! " 

Among the letters in the hands of Miss Nancy Chandler, 
nearly three years secretary and treasurer of the New Ipswich 
society, I find letters to herself and to Mrs. Quimby, th.e first 
secretary, acknowledging the receipt of boxes of articles, 
received by an agent of the New Hampshire Soldiers' Relief, 
at Washington, D. C, during the first year of work, and more 
than one box or barrel sent to the Soldiers' Relief Rooms, 
established by the Sanitary Commission in Boston ; beside 
those sent through the N. E. Women's Auxiliary of the Com- 
mission. 

With the women at work in Boston, a constant correspond- 
ence was kept up, and the society at New Ipswich responded 
promptly with the articles which were said to be most needed. 
For example, a letter would reach us calling for woolens — 
shirts, drawers, stockings. The letter would read thus : 

" While I was in Washington many boxes of articles were received, 
but they contained few woolens. Not enough to meet the wants of the 
hospitals in which they were distributed, and the wants of these same 
hospitals may be greater now than then; for patients as they improre 



15 

are sent into convalescent camps, or eastward, as soon as their conditiou 
will admit of it, to make way for others from the army who generally 
come in a destitute condition." 

Immediately on the receipt ( f this letter the officers of the 
society particularly, and members generally, would begin to 
devise ways and means. Woven socks, especially those made 
of woolen yarn, had not come into use. They must be knitted 
by hand. Notice would be given that yarn would be pro- 
vided for any who were willing to knit, and from all sides 
would come the offer to knit. Many, too aged or too feeble 
to come to the meetings at the chapel or at Union Hall, took 
yarn to knit at home, and at the meetings of a young people's 
organization to work for the soldiers, knitting was the regular 
work. 

An incident occurs to me in connection with these cadets. 
The name they bore was " Cadets' Relief Society." They for 
a time occn[)ied a part of the chapel, their seats being at right 
angles with those occupied by the older society. One of the 
young ladies came to the president's table, and asked informa- 
tion in regard to some socks, intended to be paired, which 
were i«??paired — it may be 2wpaired — by mistakes in knitting. 
The president went directly to the seat of the two girls who 
had the intended pair, and, a little amused by their evident 
chagrin, she said, " Don't be troubled, girls. No doubt some 
of these socks will go to poor fellows with only one leg. They 
will be just as useful for that." The suggestion was taken 
with, " Oh, you are a jewel, Mrs. Obear." 

The sock want supplied, the shirts and drawers must be 
obtained. But the treasury was depleted. Then the question 
of means must be settled. A social gathering of some kind 
with admission fee would be arranged. The money obtained, 
material purchased, and an extra meeting or two, with help 
from two or three sewing-machines — the only ones in town — 
would supply the needed garments. 

Another letter would say : 

"The slippers made of carpeting, with siles of the same, will be very 
acceptable. They are much used in the hospitals." 



16 

Straightway numbers of housekeepers might be seen hunt- 
ing drawers, boxes, and bundles for bits of carpeting. The 
intimations that our brave boys, fighting for the Union, could 
be served, had reached them, and they were ever ready to 
respond to even an intiniation of that character. The slippers 
would be forwarded. 

The directors held many meetings for the preparation of 
work, besides the regular meetings of the society, and work 
was often taken home by members, when needs were urgent 
at the front. 

At the end of the first year, the secretary made the follow- 
ing report : 

Oct. 16th, 1862. Meeting called to order by the president. Opened 
with prayer by Mrs. Sanderson. Proceeded to choose oflScers for the en- 
suing year. The following were chosen: 

1 'resident, Mrs. C. H. Obear. 
Vice Presidents, Mrs. Loomis, Miss Louisa Pratt. 
Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. Dr. Emerson. 
District executive committee for No. 1 : Mrs. Chas. Chickering, Mrs. 
Caroline Sanders, Miss Elraira Sanders. 

The other districts need not be named. The treasurer's re- 
port of the year's work was as follows : 

Oct. 16th 1862. The Soldiers' Aid has numbered the last year 112 gen- 
tlemen and 189 ladies, making in all 301 members. The Society has met 
45 times, and has sent to relieve the wants of our soldiers the following 
articles : 

44 bedquilts, 40 caps, 

8 flannel blankets, 6 bed sacks, 

220 handkerchiefs, 12 pairs of gloves, 

30 pairs of drawers, ] linen coat, 

7 dressing gowns, 84 small bags tea, 
282 towels, 8 boxes of lint, 

47 pillows, 4 cans of blueberries, 
110 sheets, 5 bottles of wine, 

109 pillow-sacks, 20 coats, 
134 pairs of woolen socks, 6 vests, 

20 pairs of cotton socks, 14 pairs pants, 

8 cushions, 3 cravats, 

3 bed-gowns, 12 patent leather needle-cases, 

11 pairs slippers, 23 thread cases, 
13 pairs mittens, 90 cotton shirts, 

6 mattress covers, bandages, papers, 

12 flannel shirts, pamphlets, tin- wares, etc. 



17 

It will be borne in mind tliat tliis was not in days of sewing- 
machines, for these, introduced about 1845, liad not come into 
general use, so that the work lequii-ed for these various articles 
was almost wholly done by hand. 

Ready-made garments, and woven or machine-knit socks 
were not on sale, even if the society had had funds for their 
purchase. Woolen goods had to be bought at high prices, 
and cotton material was yet higher. 

The meetings of the Society had only been suspended for 
about six weeks, during the extreme bad traveling of Febru- 
ary and March. Previous to this adjournment, provision was 
made that notice should be given to the president, if any officer 
should became acquainted with facts that should seem to call 
for an immediate renewal of labor; and public notice thereof 
be given to call the Society together at the usual place of 
meeting, should exigences seem to demand it. 

The second-hand clothing was donated by citizens for the 
use of the men sufficiently recovered from illness or wounds 
to wear such garments, but not yet ready to resume their uni- 
forms and place in their respective companies. The little bags 
of tea were sent for the men on the march. Laid on the 
tongue in small quantities, it relieved extreme thirst. 

The country was unused to war. It had burst upon us sud- 
denly, and without expectation. During the Urst months of 
this year, lint from linen cloth must be scraped with a knife. 
Bandages were called for rolled evenly and hard for the use of 
the surgeons. Various lengths and widths were prescribed ; 
the length pencilled on the roll. Attics were ransacked for 
rags, put away for sickness by old-fashioned and thrifty house- 
wives. These treasures, contained in boxes, bags, and bundles, 
were seized as almost priceless things, especially if they were 
linen. Were they not treasures, when they might stanch the 
flowing blood, and heal the bleed'ng wounds of those who 
were fighting our country's battles ? 

2 



18 

Children caught enthusiasm from their elders, and joined in 
the work of prej3aring lint and bandages. I recall a scene wit- 
nessed one day just after the battle of Fredericksburg. From 
the garret of an old house, week after week, had been brought 
out stores of pieces, laid by by a housekeeper of another gen- 
eration. On this bright autumn day, an old champagne basket 
had been discovered packed with linen pieces and old linen 
garments, worn, no doubt, before cotton-gins had been inven- 
ted or cotton machinery put in use so as to make cotton super- 
sede linen — ])erhaps worn by one who had gone through the 
War of the Revolution. 

An urgent call had been sent out for lint to use in the lios- 
pitals, whose patients had been largely increased by the late 
battles. This was before manufactured lint had been imported 
by government, and no way had been provided to prepare it 
except by scraping with a knife. These rolls of worn linen 
were given out in suitable scraps to some school children in 
the neighborhood, to be converted into lint. 

Passing a grape-vine arbor and hearing voices within, a 
pause was made for observation through the leafy screen. 
Seated on chairs, boxes, and crickets, were six or eight boys 
and girls, none of them over ten, bending each over his knee, 
on which was a piece of linen cloth, and vigorously plying a 
jack-knife, a case-knife, or an apple knife. As they assiduously 
scraped the lint, they were singing with apparent gusto, 

" We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree, 
We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree, 
We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree, 
As we go marching on." 

And as the voices joined in a lusty chorus of, 

Glory, glory, hallelujah ! etc., 
the boys sprang to their feet, and brandished their knives like 
a parcel of young Mohawks, thus giving vent to their patriotic 
inclinations, and obtaining relief from the cramped position 
in which their employment had left them. 



19 

At the chnpel, tlie young men wlio were attending the acad. 
emy, and others, spent the evenings of the Soldiers' Aid in the 
same employment, at tlie expense of whitening the knees of 
their best pants. No doubt the young ladies whom they es- 
corted home, considered these wliitened knees an honorable 
badge of distinction. 

Alas! some of these brave boys were ere long to lie stark on 
the battle-fields of the South-land, or sigh for freedom in Libby 
or Andersonville, or suffer with awful wounds in camps and 
hospitals ! 

John Worcester of HoUis, attaining to the office of lieuten- 
ant, a leg shot off, and bleeding to death, after the fight at 

Fort Wagner; Lindsay of Laconia, Braman Wilson of , 

Payson Locke, and Abner Craigin of New Ipswich ; the former 
to return from a southern prison to die as a consequence of its 
deprivations ; the latter, wounded at Gettysburg, lying in a 
drenching rain, from the 3d to the 4th of July, '63. Under 
arms without respite seventeen days in " the Wilderness." 
Wounded in the thigh at Bethesda Church, June 3d, '64, but 
able to proceed with his regiment. That night, resting behind 
breastworks, his head on his knapsack, the shot of a rebel 
sharpshooter finished his life. " No man knoweth the place 
of his burial to this day." 

We cannot name them all, but Appleton Academy was 
nobly represented in the New England regiments, and he who 
during the war stood at tlie head of Appleton was ready to do 
any and all service in the "Home Regiment," and later spent 
a part or the whole of two summer vacations in the Christian 
Commission service at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and in Alabama, 



Chapter II. 



EFFORTS OUTSIDE OF THE SOLDIERS' AID. 

Scarcely had the guns fired at Sumter ceased to reverberate 
among the New Ipswich liills, before her sons began to respond 
by enlistment to the call of government for volunteers. The 
earliest action of the town has been quoted from Mr. Obear's 
journal. 

The town continued to offer inducements to enlist. Follow- 
ing the notices copied from the journal up to the date of the 
formation of the ladies' society are notices of events connected 
with a company ready to go into the war under the command 
of Capt. Jonas Nutting — captain of militia, 1st lieutenant at 
the front. Men had been enlisting in this company during the 
summer and autumn months from the neighboring towns of 
Peterborough, Rindge, Temple, and Sharon. 

Captain Nutting, in the midst of obstacles, one of which was 
having become of an age beyond what was allowed to enter 
the military service, showed a zeal and pluck — if it may be so 
called — that inspired the confidence of our young men, and 
the company w^as ready to go into camp to await orders in 
November 1861. 

Our middle-aged men, then boys, will recall the days when 
Captain Nutting would come into town and drill his soldiers 
on the meeting-house common, or march them through the 
streets. Thoughtful men and women looked upon these hus- 
bands, sons, and brothers, with other feelings than those with 
which they had looked on the muster fields on which were 



21 

enacted mimic battles. These men were equipped for real 
service in defense of a principle — the " preservation of the 
Union." 

One afternoon's drill is especially recalled. The company 
was parading in front of the church. Stephen Sylvester and 
Moses Wilkin« were the fifer and drummer. The church steps 
were occupied by interested lookers on. One aged man stood 
leaning against one of the stone posts tliat partly enclose the 
church at the front; otheis scattered about watching the 
maneuvering of the company. The ever observant Peter 
Clark was watching the old white-haired man leaning against 
the post. He noted the fire that came into his eye, the straight- 
ening of the figure, the foot vigorously beating time, and tak- 
ing the fife from Mr. Sylvester's hand with a brief explanation, 
he approached the aged man, and putting it in his hand, said, 
"-'Play, Uncle Jo, as you used to on the muster field, when 
you were a boy ! " 

Then the drummer's eye, no longer young, kindled anew 
above his flowing beard, and there followed such rendering of 
^'Yankee Doodle," "Moll Brooks has gone to the army," and 
the " White Cockade/' as none of the present generation had 
ever heard from fife and drum. The drum-sticks were thrown 
into air and caught again without the loss of a beat. The fife 
sent out notes that were indeed music, and drummer and fifer 
forgot apparently that they were not vieing with other drum- 
mers and fifers on the scenes where war was wont to be played 
in their youth, and the old thrill of the "Great Training Day," 
was in their aged hearts again. 

For a time they played, till Mr. Clark, with his customary 
thoughtfulness, saw that Mr. Craigin was getting weary, and 
took the fife and returned it to Mr. Sylvester. The spectators 
had given little heed to the evolutions that were going on un- 
<ier the spirited jdaying, as they watched the aged musicians. 
Colonels, lieut-colonels, and captains of the "Old Militia" 
found themselves again playing part on the muster fields of 



22 

their youth, whose distinctions and honors were so highly 
prized during the first fifty years following the War of the 
Revolution. 

The New Ipswich men who enlisted under Captain Nutting 
were Jonas Nutting, David Le Roy, John Pike, Albert A. 
Davis, William B. Frizzel, James Garland, Paul Greenleaf, 
Charles H. PIull, James IT. Marvin, Jonathan N. Mansfield^ 
William E. Mansur, Patrick Ready, William Simonds, George 
Smith, James Simpson, Benson Gates. 

These names are all obtained from a "History of the New 
Hampshire Sixth, Co. K." This regiment was divided, a part 
with Gen. Burnside acting on the coast from Roanoke Island 
to Georgia. The other division was sent out into Ohio and 
Kentucky, but was among the troops who in '64 engaged in 
many a fight around Petersburg and Richmond under Grant. 
Captain Nutting was discharged in 1862. 

I have before me a copy of the oath to which these soldiers 
put their names, when they enlisted. It is the paper bearing 
the signature of Charles S. Nutting, one of the four sons of 
Captain Nutting, who went into the Union army in the early- 
days of the war. I transcribe this paper. 

State of New Hampshire. 
I, Charles S. Nutting, do solemnly swear and affirm that I will bear true 
allegiance to the State of New Hampshire and to the United States of 
America; and that I will serve honestly and faithfully against all their 
enemies and opposers, whomsoever; and observe and obey the orders of 
the Governor of this State, and of the President of the United States; and 
the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the rules and 
articles for the government of the armies of the United States. 

(Signed), Chakles S. Nutting. 
State of New Hampshire, 

Hillsborough, ss. 
On this twenty-ninth day of Oct )ber, one thousand eight hundred and 
s"xty-one, the said Charles S. Nutting took and subscribed to the above 
o-^th. Before me, 

Frank W. Preston, Justice of the Peace. 



Chapter III. 

During the year's work of the society formed in aid of sol- 
diers, which we have reviewed in our lirst chapter, tlie follow- 
ing records of the war and the part New Ipswich took in it, 
are found in Mr. Obear's journal. 

Oct. 31st, 1861. Attended town meeting in the p. m., called to raise 
funds for the families of enlisted soldiers. Voted to pay each family $12 
per month. 

Nov. 14th, 1861. Attended soldiers' meeting under the Congregational 
church. John A. Rollins of Concord addressed the meeting. The enlisted 
soldiers of Peterborough, New Ipswich, and Rindge, were treated by our 
citizens to a turkey supper. There were about 100 of them. They 
expect to go into camp at Keene in a few days. 

Nov. 20th. Soldiers' Aid Society in the evening. 

Nov. 24th. Mr. Cutler— Rev. Calvin Cutler— addressed the soldiers 
yesterday — Sunday afternoon. 

Mr. C. had become the pastor of the united 1st and 2nd 
Congregational churches of the town the March before the 
breaking out of the war. He was solid rather than brilliant, 
yet when stirred by patriotic or other deep emotion, capable 
of fervid and thrilling eloquence, we can imagine what the 
address of the young pastor may have been on this occasion. 
The next entry of the journal bears dale 

Feb. 7th, 1862. Attended funeral of Francis Nutting, son of Ezekiel 
N. He died of measles at Annapolis, Maryland, where he was left when 
on his way to Washington with the 6th N. H. regiment. His age was 16. 
He was buried " under arms." Two from the same company, who died 
from the same cause, were buried at Rindge. 

Feb. 12th, 1862. Attended Sol. Aid with wife. Only twelve present. 
Voted to adjourn till traveling i?nproved, unless some emergency should 
occur. 

Feb. 22nd, 1862. We went to Academy Hall to a celebration of Wash- 
ington's birthday. Washington's Farewell Address was read, and the 
Declaration of Independence. Speeches by Esq. Preston, Hosea Eaton, 
Wm. D. Locke, and C. H. Obear; music and singing by the Clark Troupe. 



24 

April 21st, 1862. Attended the funeral of Mrs. Jonas Nutting. She 
has been sick about three weeks. Her husband, Captain Nutting, and 
three sons are Mill in the army, Charles, the fourth, having died in the 
hospital at Fortress Munroe, several weeks since. 

Returning from the Soldiers' Aid Society one afternoon, a 
friend in the carriage with Mrs. N. made some remark about 
the discouraging aspect of the war. It was at a time when all 
the war news — so anxiously waited for, and read aloud at the 
Post Office, where old and young waited for the New York 
Tribune, or the Boston Herald or Journal — was, "All quiet 
along the Potomac." She replied in a voice betraying deep 
feeling, " This curse of slavery has got to be wiped off the 
soil before the war will close." " But you seem to be bearing 
a heavy part in the cause, Mrs. Nutting." " Somebody's boys 
had got to go. It might as well be mine, as another mother's." 

The intelligence of their son Charles' death came during her 
illness. She was not informed of it. 

We extract from her obituary notice : " With a patriotism 
which would not have shamed a mother of the Revolution, 
and a cheerful, hopeful courage few could imitate, Mrs. Nut- 
ting gave her husband and four sons to fight their country's 
battles ; and to the last, no regretful woid passed her lips that 
this sacrifice had been made. 

Again tlie journal : 

Way 7th, 1862. The funeral of Charles Nutting was attended at the 
church at two o'clock. There was a large attendance. The two Fire 
Companies were out in uniform (he was a member of the Mill Village 
Company). Captain Nutting arrived home from Roanoke Island with the 
remains of his son, on Monday. An original hymn was sung by the choir 
to the tune of America. 

The opening stanza read : 

They bring us from afar, 
Where rolls tlie tide of war, 
. Our young and brave, 

They who with drum and fife 
Marched forward to the strife, 
In inanliood's strength and life, 

Robed f»;r the giave. l. a. o. 



25 

As was said in one of the papers sustained by the Academy 
students, when the news of the death of John Worcester 
reached his fellow students, 

" Another costly sacrifice 

Is on the altar laid; 
Another portion of the price 

Of Liberty is paid. 
Another eye has lost its fire, 

Another cheek its bloom. 
Another home on northern hills 

Is wrapped in sorrow's gloom. 
Alas! the soulhern soil is red 

With blood of Northmen slain ! 
Our young and brave go proudly forth, 

But ne'er return again." l. a. o. 

The age of Charles Nutting was 23. 
I copy again from the journal : 

June 9th, 1862. My wife aiul sister went with horse to south part of 
town to solicit supplies for soldiers. Several other ladies who could com- 
mand teams went to other parts of the town on the same errand. Asked 
particularly for pillows, worn sheets for bandages, linen for lint, etc. 

Aug. 12th, 18G2. Town meeting in p. m. Voted unanimously to pay 
those who should enlist for thiee years $100, to those enlisting for nine 
months $50 each. 

Oct. 26th, 1862. The funeral of William Mansur was attended, after- 
noon, after the usual service. He was mortally wounded in battle at Bull 
Run. 

The principal events of the town, connected with the war, 
have now been detailed up to the time of the first annual meet- 
ing of the Soldiers' Aid Society. That Society, liaving again 
chosen its officers, and gathered in through its new executors 
from each school district, the membership fees, started anew 
in its work. 



2G 



DRIED APPLES. 

The hospitals at Washington and elsewhere were filled with 
wounded and sick men from the battle-fields of Bull Run? 
Antietam, Fredericksburg, etc. Scurvy was prevalent, for 
which fruits and vegetables were an antidote. The canning 
of these had only begun, and that in tin cans, and often a fail- 
ure. The Society had learned that dried apples were in 
demand. It set to work to provide them. 

This second year of its existence was commenced with apple- 
bees. The audience-room of the Congregational Church had 
been, some years before, removed from the ground floor, leav- 
ing a large unfurnished room — unless the unremoved square 
pews all around its three sides could be called furniture — and 
the two furnaces which heated, or rather partially warmed the 
new room above. This was the field of action. 

The new secretary's first report recorded : 

Wednesday, Oct. 22d, 1 o'clock p. m. Soldiers' Aid met in the base- 
ment of the church, according to appointment. Listened to the annual 
report of secretary and treasurer. Prepared about 100 bushels of apples 
for drying. 

This in brief is the report of the secretary as recorded in the 
book. Memory and the journal supply a fuller account. 

An appeal had been made from the pulpit the previous Sab- 
bath to all orchardists to send apples to the church. E. T. 
Quimby and others j^rocured of Mr. Sanders, the tinman, a 
large number of cutters to quarter the apples expeditiously, 
and long wire needles with large drilled eyes, to receive the 
cord on which to string the apples. 

The long table running across the whole length of the room, 
consisting of boards resting on barrels, was put in readiness, 
with its balls of wrapping twine, and baskets of " quarterers,' 
and wire needles at the upper end. The paneled doors of the 
old square pews were unhinged or wrenched off, that the pews 
might, for the time, be converted into apple-bins. This was 
to be the scene of the evening's achievement. 



27 

All the afternoon, as the ladies of the Society worked in the 
upper vestibule, teams were coming with their small or large 
gratuitous contributions of apples of unusual excellence. So 
called "railroading" and " spalt " had not at that day made 
their appearance. 

The ladies adjourned their afternoon meeting, feeling that 
all things were in readiness for a successful evening's cam- 
paign, if there should be a full attendance. An early hour 
had been named, and promptly the workers came. Apple- 
parers had not come into general use. (Alas ! they have 
nearly passed away with the incoming of the deterioration of 
our fruit !) But a goodly number of men came armed with 
these implements, and Mr. Quimby, who fastened his to the 
upper end of the table, detailed a party of his students to 
bring the baskets of apples from their temporary bins. 

There were a hundred workers present. It was a busy 
scene. The officers of the society, at the head of the table, 
stood ready to " give out " the work. Eager young people 
crowded to the spot to obtain " quarterers " or knives to 
" trim." Others asked for the twine being measured off in 
equal lengths, and the wire needles. Then taking the apples 
as fast as they fell from the apple-parers, a group here and 
another there triumphantly sent one of their number to swell 
the growing piles, ready to be hung up to dry. 

Sober talk of the war, laughter and jesting, strife to see 
whose parer could do most work, and calls for more apples or 
applications for more strings, made a noisy but cheerful hum. 
Children's voices mixed with the rest. On boards laid across 
the pews these sat " Turk fashion," their young fingers string- 
ing the sections of apples, their young hearts learning the 
pleasure of doing kindly deeds for others, their young souls 
training to serve their country and its defenders. 

This apple-bee was Oct. 22d, 1862. The next evening this 
was the entry in the journal : 

Oct. 23d. Putting up nails to hang apples. 



28 



The next 



Oct. 24tb. My horse and wagon went to Preston's mill to get slabs to 
dry apples for the hospitals. 

In addition to his generous donation of fruit, Esq. Preston 
offered to give the fuel to keep fires in the furnaces at church, 
to dry the fruit so liberally bestowed by various citizens 
besides himself. Other citizens drew the fuel from the mil], 
free of charge. 

There was another busy scene the next day in driving nails 
into the floor-joists, still unceiled, of the large basement room 
where the apples had been prepared, and men and women 
hanging the festoons of apples from them. Fires were kept 
for several days, and the result of this and other " bees" was 
700 lbs. of dried apple. The secretary's book reports another 
meeting of the society at the church, Nov. Gth, at which meet- 
ing thirty bushels were prepared for drying, and another 
meeting the evening of the 9th November, with thirty more 
bushels. 

Afternoon of Dec. 3d. Soldiers' Aid met at the church. Got apples 
ready for packing. Voted that the meetings this winter be alternately 
held afternoon and evening; the afternoon meetings to commence at 1 :30, 
the evening at 6:00 o'clock. 

Woolen shirts and under-drawers and socks occupied tlie 
hands of those who met for the next meetings for several 
weeks, with the addition of hospital slippers, and at the Acad- 
emy hall an afternoon spent in quilting. 

Jan. 12th, 1803. The society sent to-day to Hon. L. D. Mason, for the 
relief of X. H. soldiers, a barrel containing about 20 lbs. dried apple«, 23 
pairs of socks, 2 pairs flannel drawers, 12 flannel shirts, 9 napkins, 1 quilt, 
1 blanket, 1 sheet, 2 cushions, and a lot of books and papers. 

This box was sent especially to soldiers from N. II. regi 
ments, in response to a report made by the agent sent by the 
governor of New Hampshire to inquire of the needs of N. H. 
soldiers in the hospitals at Washington. 



Chapter IV. 

For the next two or three months the Soldiers' Aid Society 
and the Cadet Relief Association held their regular meetings, 
sometimes at private houses, at Academy hall, and at Smith 
Village engine house. Apples were sent ; socks, flannel shirts? 
hospital slippers, dressing-gowns and quilts were being con- 
stantly made. 

Social gatherings were held a few times to increase funds. 
At these the Clarks sang, and the best speakers of the town — 
and long training at our Academy had qualified our most 
intelligent men to make effective speeches — intensified the 
patriotism of the citizens. 

Mr. Obear's journal records : 

Jan. 26tb, 1863. Gathering at Academy Hall in aid of our soldiers— 
C. H. Obear, toastmaster. In response to sentiments, Rev'ds Eaton and 
Cutler, Hosea Eaton, E. T. Quimby, Dr. Marsball of Greenville, and Esq. 
John Preston spoke, the Clark Troupe sung. Net proceeds, one hundred 
dollars. 

In his customary "remarks" at the end of the month, Mr. O. 
adds: 

Almost every kind of merchandise is on the advance. Cotton sheeting, 
40 cts., common calico, 25 cts., de lains, 30 cts., sugar 14cts. per lb., coffee 
35 to 40 cts., flour 10 dollars, gold $1.60. 

The journal has this recorded, 

Feb. 14th, 1863. Met at Hosea Eaton's and with twelve other repub- 
licans, formed a Union League for the protection of the Union. 

April 26th, 1863. Attended prayer meeting for the country. 

May 12th, 1863. Mr. John Pike, drummer in N. H. sixth regiment, 
buried with funeral honors. Died in Virginia. 

June 24th, 1863. The funeral of Allan A. Nutting was attended at the 
Congregational Church. About 450 present. He was mortally wounded 
on the Rappahanock, June 9th. He bad been in the service from the first, 
and had been in many hard-fought battles. 



30 

Allen A. Nutting was the youngest of the four sons of 
Capt. Jonas Nutting, who had enlisted at the beginning of the 
war, 1861. He was absent from Lis home at the time of his 
enlistment in a Massachusetts regiment. His parents, when 
they became acquainted with the fact of his enlistment, were 
surprised on account of his youth. Mrs. Nutting said, " We 
will not let him go without our blessing," and they visited 
and took leave of their young soldier boy — only eighteen 
years old — after he had gone into camp at Camp Andrew. 
On parting, his mother presented Allen with a pocket Testa- 
ment with his name and her own, with residence. This testa- 
ment was the means of his identification. 

As has been said, he had fought in many battles, had been 
appointed corporal in Nov. 1862, and sergeant in May 1863, 
just before his fatal wound. June 9th he received a mortal 
wound, and being carried into a hospital he died the 10th. 
In his vest pocket was found the Testament, his mother's last 
gift, which had been struck by a ball. A letter came to our 
post office directed to " Mrs. Lucy Nutling, mother of cor- 
poral Nutting, New Ipswich, N. II." The young soldier had 
been unable to give his name or family. The testament 
revealed them. 

He was brought home to be laid where the winds that 
fanned his brow in boyhood might whisper among the trees, 
and in the grasses above his grave. At the church a thought- 
ful, sympathetic crowd paused as they entered the large vesti- 
bule, to look upon all that remained of this boy who had so 
woithily worn the "blue." The flag he had died defending 
was draped around the casket. On the top lay a cross of 
white flowers, the marred testament, and his picture. Beneath 
them the plate that read, "Allen A. Nutting, aged 20 years, 
8 months." 

In the audience room above, the young pastor with quiver- 
ing lips spoke to a tearful audience, and the choir suni? to 



31 

"Pleyel's Hymn "verses written for the occasion. Hymns 
suitable for the burial of a soldier were absent from our hym- 
nals, and from the hearts of members of the Soldiers' Aid 
they burst forth. We subjoin this one : 

Rest thee, soldier, nevermore 

Waked by tramp of coming foes! 
Loved ones on the other shore, 

Beckon thee to long repose. 

Folded in thy country's flag, 

We have laid thee down to rest, 
With thy mother's latest gift 

Laid above thy pulseless breast. 

Rest thee, soldier, troubled dreams, 

Or noise of battle's rude alarms, 
Will break no more thy peaceful sleep, 

Nor bugle notes, that call to arms. 

Soldier, when thy country called, 

Thou didst bravely join the strife, 
For the Union that we love. 

Laying down thy glad young life. 

Rest thee, soldier, in our hearts. 

When the coming years are fled, 
Thou shalt have abiding place 

With our country's honored dead. 

L. A. O. 

During the spring months Ihe two societies for aid of sol- 
diers, continued in active operation. The older society notes, 
under date of 

April 1st, 1863. Sent to relief of soldiers through the Auxiliary at 
Boston, a box containing 6 bed-quilts, 4 small and 1 large pillow, 1 sheet, 
8 pillow-cases, 3 handkerchiefs, 6 towels, one box of lint and bandages, 
2 flannel shiits, 13 pairs of slippers, 36 pairs of socks, and 3 dressing- 
gowns. 

It is not surprising that this general interest and enthusiasm 
sometimes broke into action unwisely or unlawfully; but the 
occasions when they did so were very infrequent, and though 
the Union League had frequent meetings, and the very few 



32 

in the town whose sympathies were with the South were un- 
der close surveilance, the right to personal opinions was 
respected if not obnoxiously proclaimed. 

The students of the Academy and others would come to 
the window of the town bell-ringer and urge to have the key 
to the church, that they might get in and send out a joyful 
peal over the rumored death of Jeff Davis or the surrender of 
a southern general. They would be persuaded to wait till the 
report should be confirmed by the morning's papers, and gen- 
erally were so persuaded. 

On one occasion several men whose ages, some of them, 
would hardly give their indiscretion the plea of the natural 
want of thought and hastiness of youth, heard of traitorous 
words from one they called in the significant language of the 
times, a " Copperhead," living near the Temple line. Late in 
the evening they proceeded — from forty to fifty of them — to 
the house of the man who had made himself obnoxious, and 
made some demonstration that aroused the wife, who raised 
the window and demanded what they wanted. 

When they answered " that her husband should come out 
and drink Abraham Lincoln's health with them in his new 
cider," she replied, " Mr. B. is an aw^ful sot man, I don't 
believe you'll ever git him to du it." I do not remember the 
sequel, but one is reminded of Mrs. Grant's reply when asked 
•if she thought her husband would take Richmond. "Mr. 
Grant is a pretty set man, he won't be likely to give up till he 
does take it." 

COMFORT BAGS. 

1863, May 9th, Prof. GC T. Quimby notified the president of 
the society that he had decided to spend his summer vacation 
in aiding the army, as a delegate of the Christian Commission. 
Mr. Quimby said he should be glad to take with him anything 
the Soldiers' Aid Society should send. He suggested the get- 
ting ready of some "comfort bags" for the personal conven- 



33 

ience of soldiers in crimps and convalescent hospitals. A few 
individuals had already sent these bags to especial soldiers. 
They were made of any pretty and strong fabric; were about 
nine inches long and six wide when finished. In them were 
put a double fold of thick cloth, holding six No. 2 needles; flat 
pasteboard cards, on which were wound black linen and white 
cotton thread ; a dozen shirt and pant buttons ; yarn, pins ; 
rolls of bandages for slight wounds or cuts ; a piece of ginger- 
root ; a half pencil ; three or four envelopes ; the same num- 
ber of small sheets of paper ; a Christian Commission leaflet, 
and, if possible, a letter written to the soldier who should 
receive the bag. 

Measures were immediately taken to procure as many of 
these bags as possible in the eight or ten days remaining before 
Mr. Quimby's departure. The day following Mr. Quimby's 
interview with the president of the society, notice was given 
in Sabbath-school (during the larger part of these four years 
there was but one church and Sabbath-school). The noon 
between the two services then held in all churches was spent 
in securing the immediate making of bags to be filled by the 
Soldiers' Aid Society. 

Monday the schools of the town were notified that children 
or families who desired to aid the work could send or bring 
to the chapel on Wednesday afternoon any bags they might 
contribute to be packed with those of the society. 

It was a busy week for the women and children of the town. 
Sewing machines — the three or four in the village — were put 
into use for the common cause ; and all kinds of pretty pieces 
which had not been given for quilts were sent to Mrs. J. U. 
Davis, Mrs. Barrett and Mrs. Wright and others, to be con- 
verted into bags for the society. 

The stores of the town were not sufiicient for the demand 
for No. 2 needles, pencils, ginger-root, etc. Fitchburg was 
called upon for these, and pant buttons. 

Wednesday the school children came to the chapel in troops, 
3 



34 

notwithstanding tlie rain, with thoir contributions. To many 
of their bags had been added a little cake of soap, a bag of 
tea, a tiny box of salve, a needle-book instead of the square of 
thick cloth, etc. 

The number of workers at the chapel being too small to fill 
the bags from the supplies made ready from the funds of the 
Soldiers' Aid Society, when the meeting adjourned, it was 
voted to resume work on Saturday at the chapel. 

Saturday, May 16th. 

The Soldiers' Aid Society met in the chapel according to appointment. 
Received a large number of comfort bags. Also filled many more for those 
who could not conveniently do it at home, but were willing to pay for 
them. Packed the bags together with other articles to go to the Christian 
Commission. Nancy Chandler, 

Secretary of S. A. Society. 

Arrangements were made to forward our stores to Mr. 
Quimby the 20th, he having been obliged to leave Monday the 
18th. On that day Mr. Obear writes : 

My wife has spent all her leisure time for a week in filling comfort bags, 
and especially in writing letters to put into them, for Mr. Quimby to dis- 
tribute in Rosecrans' division of the army in Tennessee. 

May 18th. Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. J. U. Davis, Mrs. Col. Gibson, Mrs. 
Dana Locke and Mrs. Cutler here in afternoon, putting up the things for 
Mr. Quimby. 

In this old house were found many packages of a well 
known application for burns and sores. These, having been 
donated by the owner, were cut into inch lengths and added to 
the bags filled that day. If the cook found slow progress 
from her pantry to the kitchen next morning, it was attributed 
to the bits of "Hardy's Plaster," which in cutting for the bags 
had been distributed over the fioor, and proved a sticking- 
plaster for shoe soles. Again from the secretary's book : 

Tuesday p. m., May 19th, 1863. 

The Soldiers' Aid Society met at the chapel. Received many more 
comfort bags. Finished packing the boxes for the Christian Commission. 
The boxes contained 280 comfort bags, 36 pairs socks, 2 large bundles of 
lint, 2 cotton sheets, 2 handkerchiefs, 31 bottles of blackberry-cordial and 



35 

wine, jellies, pickles, etc., an<l a large lot of pamphlets and papers. Of 
these articles, the sheets, handkerchiefs and lint, 10 pairs of socks, and 
10 bottles of wine and jelly, were contributed by the ladies of Temple, 
and 8 pairs of socks by the Cadets' Relief. 

Owing to Miss Chandler's absence from town, and other 
manses, the next ten meetings are not recorded in full. 

Of the comfort bags sent through Mr. Quimby, we got a re- 
port through the replies to letters which they contained, and 
from Mr. Q. himself. That they were appreciated by the 
army, aside from their intrinsic value, there is abundant evi- 
dence. Prof. Quimby gave a report of his work with the 
Commission in Tennessee, at the church, Sept. 6th, at five 
o'clock p. m. 300 persons were present. 

He described the eagerness with which the soldiers who 
€ame to the Christian Commission tent, seized these tokens of 
the thoughtfulness of the members of the homes they had left 
behind them. They would go away from the tent opening 
them, and he who found no letter in his would come running 
back to ask that it " might be exchanged for one that con- 
tained a letter." In less than ten days after they were 
distributed, there came to New Ipswich post office seventy- 
five letters which bore the post-mark " Nashville, Tennessee." 

From several of these I take extracts. In writing to the 
unknown recipient of the bag, the writer would often give the 
name of Mrs. So-and-so, of the elderly women who had knit 
socks of the society's yarn. The replies from the army gave 
them great delight, and quickened their enthusiasm in the 
cause. 



Chapter 'V, 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM THE ARMY OF THE 
CUMBERLAND. 

Murfreesboro, Term., July lOtli, 1S63. 
Dear Madam : 

I was at the Christian Commission store this morning. They 
were issuing those comfort bags, of which I received one filled with vari- 
ous articles which are very useful to the soldier, and which came very 
handy to me. 

I feel truly thankful that we have friends in the north. We have nume- 
rous enemies in our front, and considerable of a foe in our rear (in the 
way of Copperheads), which is worse than the enemy in front, but I hope 
your state is free from all such enemies; my state (Ohio) is full of them. 
In the little bag which I received, I found among numerous other articles 
a written epistle, which I read with delight. Although I am not a profes- 
sor of religion myself, I was raised by pious parents who died in the faith 
of Jesus. My mother died when I was a small child — 19 years ago — but I 
can call to mind her kind admonitions, as if 't were yesterday. My father 
lived to see all his children raised to man- and woman-hood, and died two 
years ago, after I entered the service of my country. I have been in the 
service ever since the rebellion broke out, and have underwent many 
hardships, privations, and hairbreadth escapes, and I know it was through 
the mercy of God that I was spared to live through. 

Madam, if you feel disposed to write, 1 would like to hear from you 
when you get this, for it is a few letters we get in this army, as nearly all 
my relatives are in their graves. 

I have but two brothers and one sister living, and am living in single 
blessedness. I do not know whether you are married or single, but be 
that as it may, I should be glad to hear from you, and think letters are 
the life of the soldier. I will give you my address, and if you can find 
time to drop me a few lines, I should be much comforted. 



Direct to Murfreesboro, Tennessee; John T. Ratcliff, care of Capt. 
Osgood, Co. E, 40tli Ohio regiment (to follow the regiment). 

With these few remarks I will close, wishing you all the happiness in 
the world, for it is little that 1 see. 

Yours with respect, 
To Miss L. A. Obear. J. T. Ratcliff. 



Camp near Murfreesboro, Tenn., July 10th, 1863. 
Hrs. Obear: 

I think it my duty as a soldier to write a few lines in return to 
Ihose received from you. I am happy to think we haf frends in difernt 
Parts of hour country an ones that takes such an intrest in the soldier's 
wellfair, that is now in the field contending for hour Rites and Liberty. 
I am a soldier that is a member of the 21 Kentucky Regt. vol. I haf ben 
in the survis for 2 years, an has dun my duty as a soldier. I am 14 (pos- 
sibly it is IS) years of age. I came out in the servis as one of those to 
defend my country, the constitution, an hour Libertys, an to hold up the 
-star spangled Banner of hour country. I hope that it wont be long until 
we haf this weaked Rebellion put down, an the stars an strips may wave 
■over hour land a gain. 

I don't supose you are acquainted with a soldiers life. We see a good 
■dele of trouble, an hardships in camp, but we don't mind that. We do 
intend to Restore the Union, let it cost what it will. If you wish to write 
to me Direct your letter to Co. R, 21 Reg, Kentucky Vol., 3 Brigade, 3 
Division, Murfreesboro, Tenn. 

I would be very glad to hear from you, an from that country. 

(I will not give the name.) 

After these many years, on reading this letter from a very 
young, and partly in consequence, a very illiterate Kentuckian, 
1 recall the fact that Kentucky was, with Maryland, considered 
as "sitting on the fence " at the beginning of the Civil War, 
doubting which side to jump : the Union side, or the South- 
ern Confederacy. The " states " decided as states. There 
were probably many hearts that beat true to the Union in 
them all ; and we should not rank them all as traitors, w^ho 
were below what was "Mason and Dixon's line." 



38 

Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 9th, '63. 
My Friend : 

As such you must allow me to call you Perhaps you will pardon 

me for my boldness in replying to your note without a request. However 
I could not think of allowing so worthy a note to go unanswered 

I must thank you for your nice contribution which I received a short 
time since. Such presents, so pleasantly given, gladden the hearts of 

many brave and patriotic soldiers Alas! the fortunes of war 

have caused many of us to think of our mothers, sisters and friends. 

Dark is the future. Notwithstanding the hardships incident to our life^ 
I, for one, would be a soldier the remainder of my days, rather than sub- 
mit to the cruel control of traitors. This national government which our 
fathers so nobly preserved and handed down to us, may we ever be true 
to it, and the banner that sheltered us in youth. Ah ! we will protect it 
now. I have been soldiering a long time. The endearments of home are 
many, but I pursue cheerfully my regular routine of duties as a soldier. 
However we all anticipate a bright future, and would hail the return of 

peace and the restoration of the Union, with delight Allow me 

to compliment the generous and patriotic ladies of New Hampshire. May 
their path ever be strewn with peace and happiness ! I have long since 

commended our just cause to the all-wise and true God He is^ 

ray only friend except my old musket, while amid traitors. But my letter 
is getting longer than interesting. j remain with respect, 

Jno. W. Turner. 



A friend who, when she wrote the letter to which this is a 
reply, was a young girl, gives me leave to copy the following: 

Murfreesboro', July 10, 1863. 

Friend E : Your note of April 16th arrived at its destination this 

morning: it was accompanied with a few notions that was very thankfully 
received. My regiment is on the march pursueing Bragg and his follow- 
ers. I fill the all important oflSce of Quartermaster-sergeant, conse- 
quently I remain at Murfreesboro' in charge of the company property. . . 

I do not think the prospect is very favorable at present for the speedy 
close of the war. If these little notions is all I need in the army, there i&^ 
another article of household furniture which I need after I am out of the 
service, and that is a companion for life. If you are a single lady, you of 
course, like all other women, expect to be bound in the holy bonds of 
wedlock with some man, at some future time. I am twenty-seven years- 



39 

old, five feet, five inches high, dark complexion, dark hair, and blue eyes; 
was born and raised in Franklin Co., Ohio, near Coliirabus. I have been 
in the army two years, and expect to remain in it till the last rebel has laid 
down his arms, if it is necessary. If you think of committing matrimony 
at the end of the war, and if you think a Bucke5e farmer would suit 
please write and Jet me know. 

From a friend and well-wisher. 

Address, R. H. , Co. K, 1st O. V. Cavalry, 

2d Cavalry Division, 2d Brigade, Murfreesboro, Tenn. 



I introduce this letter and parts of the two following it, to 
which the comfort bag led, as a specimen of the innocent 
pleasantries that passed between the boys shut out from all 
the pleasures of home and the young people of the other sex, 
with whom they would have naturally been associated in those 
homes. 

Point Rock, Dec. 22, '63. 

Friend E : I will not attempt to give you a history of our marches 

and our counter-marches since I wrote you last summer. But we have 
roamed over mountains, and crossed floods, and there has a number of 
my comrades crossed the river of death, since that time. 

Our regiment participated in both the great battles near Chattanooga. 
Our Co. lost more than any other Co. in the Reg't, it being in the hottest 
of the fight, supporting a battery. We are stationed at present on the 
Memphis and Charleston Railroad in Ala., guarding a bridge over Point 
Rock river and patrolling the Tennessee river. 

Our Col. has an order to re-enlist the Reg't for the war. I expect to 
remain in the array as long as there is a rebel in arms. It w(>uld be very 
little enjoyment to visit home, as my father and the majority of ray rela- 
tions are copperheads, and ray old sweet-heart, it is said, wears Val's 
miniature for a breastpin. Now don't you think that is too bad ? 

Tell your brother I have a " good-looking sister," and I would like to 
exchange her for some other fellow's pretty sister. You wished me to in- 
quire of some fellow if I was good looking. I asked my messmate; he 
says I am passably good-looking, and that my eyes are blue. Now if you 
can't take his word for it, send me your picture and I will send you mine 
in return, and you can judge for yourself. We have had no cold weather 
here yet, and the health of the army is good. I will now close hoping to 



40 

hear from you again. If we do not meet on earth, I hope to meet you in 
Heaven, where there is no war. 

Yours in the bonds of friendship, 

R. K. R , 

Address, Co. K, 1st O. V. C, Stevenson, Ala. 



A year later the following letter Avas received, dated from 
an Ohio town. Evidently the soldier had not resumed his 
former relations with his " sweet-heart." 

L. W. C, Ohio, December 24th, 1865. 

Friend E : It is a long time since I have heard from you. I wrote 

you one year ago the first of this month. I was promoted to 1st lieutenant 
about that time, and had command of my company until we were mus- 
tered out of the service, which occured the 27th of September, 1865, and 
since that time I have been living at my home in W. C, Madison Co., 
Ohio. I have been enjoying civil life as well as most any old Batch in 
this country. I have gone into the stock business since I left the army. 
I am feeding a lot of cattle and sheep this winter, and from appearances I 
will stand a chance to loose some money. As I have no news of impor- 
tance to communicate, after wishing you a merry Christmas and happy 
New Year, I close by asking you to write to me soon. 

Yours with respect, 

R. K. R. 



It will be seen that these seemingly unimportant little bags 
were not trifles in this drama of the Civil War. Between five 
and six hundred of them were sent from New Ipswich. We 
have read how they were received. The effect on those who 
sent them was to quicken patriotic sentiment, and call out 
sympathy for the men whose privations called for such sup- 
plies. 

The eagerness which the children of the town evinced in 
this work may have led Mr. Cutler — the only minister in town 
in these years— and Prof. Quimby, to devise the organization 



41 

of a society whose object slioiild be " to implant and foster 
among the children the habit of giving for benevolent objects.' 
The result was that unique institution "The Children's Fair 
for Benevolent Purposes," which was first held in October, 
1862, and has continued to be held every year since to the 
present time — an annual source of pleasure and pride to the 
town. For thirtj-five years its little rills of beneficence have 
been gladdening the various institutions that have been trying 
to make the waste places of the earth green. Its contributions 
to the soldiers' cause were large during its first years. 

There were reports from time to time of the death in the 
army of one and another of our New Ipswich boys, many of 
whom had enlisted in IVIassachusetts regiments. 

Among the earliest killed — in his first engagement — was 
John, son of Wm. Walker. He was among the first from the 
town to enlist, going over to Fitchburg to do so; joined the 
15th Mass. regiment, Co. B; was killed at, or just after the 
battle of Ball's Bluff. He had escaped unhurt, but jumped 
into the Potomac to rescue a comrade from drowning, and 
while still in the water, a ball struck him, and floating down 
to Georgetown, his body was taken from the river and identi- 
fied by his name, sewed on his shirt by his mother, previous to 
his departure. 

James Boyce, George, son of Ezekiel Nutting, and many 
more were killed. These reports served to quicken our inter- 
est, especially as their families belonged to our Soldiers' Aid. 



Chapter VI. 

The Soldiers' Aid took no vacation during the summer of 
'63. 

Abby W. May and Ann G. Loring wrote to us, expressing 
thanks for judiciously chosen supplies, and saying that " it was 
good to see Aids going straight along," and wishing "every 
society had as good record in this respect." These women of 
the Boston Auxiliary always stood ready to give needed infor- 
mation. Their circulars urged steady and persistent effort. 

" There were two factors," they wrote, " in our sum. First, 
sick and wounded soldiers, by thousands ; second, our ability 
to serve them. When by diligent ciphering we have made 
one equal the other, the sum will prove satisfactory." 

There was sent from New Ipswich a box containing 200 
comfort bags, with many other needed things, in July, and the 
work and contributions went steadily on, though the meetings 
were not so fully attended. These were hard times financially, 
but there was no faltering or flagging. 

Twenty-five dollars were sent to the Christian Commission 
for the prisoners who had been liberated by exchange, from the 
prisons of the south. Of these a chaplain wrote in a letter 
acknowledging aid sent by us, describing in moving terms the 
condition of these men. Starving, diseased, emaciated, piti- 
fully destitute, they came, the larger part of them, into our 
hospitals to die. Others needed long and careful nursing, and 
if they recovered, must be clothed and sent on their way to 
the friends who were anxiously awaiting their coming. 

Another donation of money was reported by the secretary, 
later, with still continued supplies. So the work went on 
through the second year of the society's life. Monthly con- 



43 

tributions were also collected at church through the second 
and third years and sent directly to the Christian Commission, 

At the annual meeting in October, 1864, Mrs. C. H. Obear 
was again chosen president ; vice-presidents, Mrs. Calvin Cut- 
ler and Mrs. Helen M. Fox ; secretary and treasurer. Miss 
Nancy Chandler. The usual soHciting committee from each 
school district was also chosen. 

It was voted that during the winter months meetings should 
be held only once a month, unless it was demanded by the ur- 
gent needs of the soldiers. During the months of May and 
June fifty-four thousand men had fallen in Grant's command, 
and there had been pressing want of supplies for the wounded. 
But the end seemed drawing near, and the taking of the Con- 
federate capital a question of time only. We w^ere getting 
tired. The secretary reported 192 members, and there had 
been thirty-eight meetings of the society during the year. 

Socks, pillows, handkerchiefs, ring cushions, slippers, dress- 
ing-gowns, sheets, quilts, bandages, jellies, and dried apples, 
were forwarded each month, and twelve gallons of blackberry 
cordial, so much in demand for dysentery, had been made in 
the berry season, largely through the efforts of JVIrs. Helen Fox. 
The secretary reported fifteen dollars sent to relieve prisoners 
at Richmond, and again twenty-five dollars in money, to be 
used by the Christian Commission at discretion. During this 
third year of our existence, there had been sent, " 45 yds. ban- 
dages, 175 handkerchiefs, 15 towels, 29 lbs. of assorted pieces 
for wounds, 20 pairs of socks, 20 pairs of slippers, besides the 
12 gallons of cordial, divided between the Sanitary and 
Christian Commissions. The Clark Troupe gave a concert in 
May and contributions were taken at church for the Christian 
Commission." 

We will return again to Mr. Obear's journal. 

May 20, 1864. Posted bills for a concert to be given by the Clarks, next 
week, in aid of the soldiers lying sick and wounded in the hospitals— to be 
given at the Academy hall. 



44 

The two Clark families always made a cheerful and ready- 
response to any call for their services in efforts to increase the 
funds of our Soldiers' Aid. Their voices often found the ma- 
terials to be manufactured by our hands. 

June, 1864. Spent two hours helping pack things for soldiers. 

July, 1864. " Remarks.^' Goods of all kinds advancing in price: corn- 
meal, $3.90 per bag; brown sugar 25 cts. per lb. ; black tea $1.40 per lb. ; 
cotton cloth 55 cts. per yd. ; gold worth $2.56— has been as high as $2.80. 
The president has issued a call for half a million more of men. Fast day 
appointed by the president. 

Aug. 4th, 1864. Town meeting in the afternoon to see about raising 
money to pay volunteers to fill our quota of the draft. Voted to authorize 
the selectmen to borrow money necessary, not exceeding $15,000. They 
expect we shall have to pay about $550 to each man in addition to the 
$300 offered by the state, and $300 from the U. S. government. 

Sept. 6th. Funeral of John Shattuck. Died in the army. 

Frequent notices of meetings of the Union League occur 
during these months. The president had sent out his procla- 
mation of intention to liberate all slaves in September, 1862, 
and Jan. 1st, 1863, he signed his name to the paper that con- 
verted the slaves of the south into citizens of the United 
States. 

THE EMANCIPATION ACT. 

Previous to the passage of this act, the Soldiers' Aid Society 
had considered it a part of its duty to extend relief to those 
who had come into the Union lines, " contrabands of war." 
Their especial need of clothes, with winter approaching in the 
autumn of 1862, had called for relief in the way of second 
hand garments, and they had been sent. On later pages we 
shall relate, as growing out of the Civil War, our work for the 
freedmen before, and after the war was ended. 

Prof. E. T. Quimby gave a part of his summer vacation a 
second time, in 1864, to the Christian Commission work, and 
200 more comfort bags were sent through him. These went 
to East Tennessee and Alabama. In reply to letters sent in 
these bags, many letters came to New Ipswich. A few of 



45 

these I copy, as showing the patriotism of those who were 
figljting the battles of the Union, and entire absence of sec- 
tional feeling, and giving further proof, also, of the encourage- 
ment which these tokens of sympathy from home gave these 
men, banished from home enjoyments and family sympathy. 

Before I give them we will look at the situation. Grant's 
special division was before Richmond and Petersburg, and 
from May 8th to June 15th over 50,000 were killed and three 
or four times that number wounded. These were calling for 
our aid. Sherman's division, further south^had won a victory, 
and the journal records: 

Sept. 3d, 18G4. Thanksgiving for Sherman's victory. 

This victory was not won without accessions to the hospitals* 
The Battle of the Wilderness, lasting from June 26th to July 
1st, alone added 7,700 to the hospitals, and though government 
could now do more, we could do no less. The New Hampshire 
6th, in which so many of our boys had enlisted, was in ten 
battles in 1864, and some of these were continued running 
skirmishes without opportunity to lay down their arms for rest, 
for days. So with diminished numbers, the Soldiers' Aid 
labored on. 

Now, our soldiers' letters from Sherman's division. 

Chattanooga, Oct. 30th, 1864. 
Kind Miss, or Mrs., it may be: 

To-day I vras down to the Christian Commission, writing to my 
dear sister. Just as I finished, there was a box of goods came in. The 
agent, being anxious to see what was in it, opened it immediately, and lo 
and behold ! it contained a quantity of useful articles for us poor toil-worn 
soldiers. And I am pleased to say I was presented with a package which 
contained a good note, and knowing it to be no harm, I concluded to 
answer it. It is true we are far from friends, but it seems we have some 
friends in the North who are engaged in a good cause. 

My kind and only sister is a good and pious girl. I had just finished 
reading a letter from her, when I received yours. 

In the late battles of this Department I done my first fighting. Many 
of my comrades fell around me, but through the mercy of God, I am 
spared thus far. 



46 

I thank you for your kind missive, and the articles I received through 
your kindness. I was very much pleased with the reception. I should 
)ike to see the kind face of a lady engaged in such good works. God be 
with you, now and forever ! 

Your true friend and soldier, 

Albert Davis, 
Co. F. 35th Regt. Ohio Volunteers. 
Via Nashville, Tenn. 



General Field Hospital, 
Bridgeport, Ala., May 16th, 1864. 
Mrs. L. A. S. Obear, 

Kind Friend: Our chaplain has just been distributing comfort bag- 
through the hospital, and we have had a merry time examining their cons 
tents, and reading the letters that came with them. I will not attempt 
to describe the feelings of the boys after reading the letters and looking 
over the other needful things, for it is impossible. It is not the value of 
the comfort bags that revives them so, but it convinces them that they are 
not forgotten at home by thobe that they hold dearer than life. 

There have been a great many of those comfort bags sent to this 
Department, but the one you sent is the first I ever had the pleasure of 
obtaining, and I must say that I sincerely thank you for the interest 
you take in our welfare. 

I have been in the army of the Cumberland ever since the war com- 
menced, and have had good health till about three months ago. I was 
taken sick with the erysipelas and have had a very severe time of it, but 
I am now convalescing slowly. I belong to the cavalry command, and we 
have never had the privilege of laying camp but very little, for there was 
always plenty of scouting for us to do, and we were kept on the move 
nearly all the time. We never had the opportunity of receiving those 
little comforts that the infantry and artillery do, for they are in camp 
often, for months at a time; but by the newspapers and letters sent by 
Gur friends, we have always been satisfied that the better part of the 
North were interested in the soldiers' welfare. 

True, there are a great many Copperheads in my state (Ohio), but we 
consider them the ignorant part of the community, and do not allow them 
to discourage us in the least. But we do feel under many oblioations to 
the patriotic ladies of the North, and especially to the ladies of New 
Ipswich, for the interest they have taken in our welfare; also for the 
encouraging letters sent with the comforts. 

Our army is now on the move, and we have just received intelligence 
from it that is favorable; and also from Gen. Grant. 



47 

I now close, thanking you for your kindness. If this poorly written 
letter is worth answering, I should like to hear from New Ipswich again, 
for I have formed a good opinion of the place. I remain 
Yours with thanks, 

J. C. McDowell, 

Co. G, 3d Ohio Cavalry. 
My address is — General Field Hospital, Bridgeport, Alabama. 

To this letter a reply was sent, which elicited the following : 

General Field Hospital, 
Bridgeport, Ala., June 10th, 1864. 

Dear Friend: Yours of May 25th was duly received, and I was a little 
surprised when I saw who it was from, for I had given up the idea of ever 
hearing from you again, it being so great a distance, and thinking all your 
attention would be drawn to the Army of the Potomac, as nearly all the 
New Hampshire soldiers are there, and I supposed your friends would be 
with them ; and I thought you would hardly take the trouble to write to a 
Buckeye so far away and that you have never seen. But I am satisfied 
now that you are really a soldiers' friend that does not hold a prejudice to 
either army, as a great many do. 

I was delighted in reading what an interest your Aid Society has taken 
in the poor soldier. You said I might take a walk with you in imagina- 
tion to one of your meetings. I have done so, but I would rather it would 
be a real, instead of an imaginary one. True, I am but a young man yet 
(in my twenty-third year), but I can always enjoy myself in the society 
of ladies, young or old. I have always had a respect for the ladies, for 
the best friend I ever had was a woman (my mother), but I lost that friend 
the year before I came into the army, and when we see the ladies take 
such an interest in our welfare, we can't but feel encouraged. 

And yet a soldier will have some gloomy times, and it is a gloomy time 
to me now, for I have just received the sad news of a good many of my 
friends in the late battle of Chickamauga. When I enlisted, there were 
seventeen of us out of the same neighborhood that went into the army at 
the same time and in the same regiment and company. We had been 
schoolmates ever since we were children. And ever since we have been 
in the service there was only one died, until this late battle. 

We began to think we were a lucky crew, and would get through all 
safe. But while I was down to the depot this forenoon, there was a train 
came in, and there were three of them on the train; and that was not al). 
They told me that we had lost twenty-five out of our company, and twelve 
of them were my best friends. So now there are only four of us left out 



48 

of the seventeen, and three of them very badly wounded. And now you 
oan imagine what my feelings are at the present. 

But I don't feel in any way discouraged, for they have fallen in a good 
cause, and if I should fall next, I shall feel that I was doing my duty. 
There are two regiments of 100 days men came ht re from Indiana to-day 
for railroad guards; and the old soldiers have made so much fun of them 
for coming out for a hundred days, to keep from being drafted, that they 
got ashamed of it, and nearly all of them enlisted for three years. 

I received a letter from home yesterday stating that the young ladies of 
the city had turned out and offered to take the place of the clerks in the 
stores, so that they can go into the army, giving them the privilege of 
drawing their pay from the government and at home also. But some of 
these Copperheads (I should say cowards), for we have a great many of 
them in Ohio, refused. 

Such patriotic ladies in the North we feel proud of, and I shouldn't be 
surprised if I should fall in love with one of them, if I ever get home from 
the army. But I suppose, being a married woman, such nonsense does 
not interest you. Perhaps your husband is in the army ? If so, I would 
like to know in what regiment. If you feel inclined to answer this letter, 
I should be very happy to hear from you. Direct as before. 

I am very respectfully yours, 

J. C. McDowell. 



The secretary's book has no record after the annual meeting 
for choice of ofKcers, Oct. 21st, 1864, but the society continued 
its work, as the treasurer's report and other documents and 
receipts show. The monthly meetings continued, but sympa- 
thy and aid were called for by the " contrabands," and divided 
our labors, and Government was now better able or had learned 
better how to supply the helps demanded by war. 

Sometime during the year the following articles were sent 
to the company which had enlisted from New Ipswich and 
neighboring towns, as tokens of regard : 40 Florence caps, 12 
pairs gloves, 8 pairs mittens, 12 quilts, 12 patent leather needle 
and thread cases. 



Chapter VII. 

Succeeding the Annual Meeting of October 1864 the work 
of the Aid is not found in regular records. The ill health of 
some of the most active members, and the absence from town 
. of others, prevented the accustomed regularity of its meet- 
ings, but material was supplied to those who could work at 
home and many boxes were sent, principally through the 
Christian Commission. The papers of the society show that 
supplies continued to be sent as long as there were men in the 
hospitals who needed them. Here is a letter dated 

Frederick City, Jan. 11th, 1865.. 

Mrs. L. A. Obear of Ladies' Aid Society, New Ipswich, New Harap-' 
shire: I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of an acceptable 
donation from the ladies of your society. A box containing as follows : 
200 yds. of bandages, 8 lbs. of assorted pieces, 1 shirt, 2 prs. drawers, 8 
prs. slippers, 8 prs. socks, 65 hdkfs.,6 lbs. dried cherries, currants, rasp- 
berries and strawberries, and 8 comfort-bags, was received by me from the 
home oflSce at my agency. I thank jou jn the name of the boys in our 
hospital. What would they do without your Aid Societies? Though far 
from their homes they never forget the friends left behind, and feel sure 
that they are praying for them. 

Gideon Banty, Agt. of Christian Commission. 

Another letter dated 

July lOlh, 1865. U. S. Gen'l Field Hospital, Annapolis, Md. 

Soldiers' Aid Society: In behalf of the Christian Commission, I have 
the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of a box of hospital stores from 
you. They will immediately be distributed in the various wards of the 
hospital. The children and others who have aided in the preparation of 
the box, may be assured that their labor and kindness are appreciated by 
our suffering heroes. It would gratify you to hear the heartfelt expres- 
sions from the lips of these men who partake of your gifts. During the 
arrival of the 10,000 exchanged prisoners we have been so fully occupied 
with the care of the suffering that it has required our incessant attention. 
4 



50 

It would touch your kind hearts with profound sympathy could you look 
upon the men in these hospitals who have lately come from the prisons of 
the enemy. Starved, emaciated, wounded, diseased, multitudes of them 
only come to this place to linger a few days, and to die. Three hundred 
and fifty have died in the last thirty days. It will gratify you to know 
that many of them became Christians in the prisons of the south, and 
found the consolations in religion that enabled them to bear their depriva- 
tions hopefully, and are enabling them to meet death with calmness and 
resignation. Agent of Christian Commission. 

This letter was sent to us after tlie war was over. Yes, the 
war was over, but there were suffering men in the hospitals, 
and the Soldiers' Aid Society was not disbanded, but contin- 
ued its interest in the sick and wounded men who had helped 
to win the victory, even after it was merged in the " Freed- 
man's Aid and Educational Societies." These had been 
formed the winter or spring before. As contrabands of war, 
their extreme destitution was a consequence of the war. We 
had been relieving that destitution in connection with our 
work for the army. When they became citizens of the Uni- 
ted States by the passage of the Emancipation Act, we of the 
free states owed them new duties. They must be taught to 
care lor themselves ; educated to their duties as citizens. New 
Ipswich, I shall show, promptly and generously responded to 
this call for further work. 

Petersburg and Richmond had been taken ! How did New 
Ipswich receive the glad tidings ? Who shall describe the joy 
over the fall of Richmond ? Mr. Obear says in his journal 
under date of 

April 4th, 1865. There are demonstrations of joy in all directions, ring- 
ing of bells, firing of cannon, etc. Several houses are illuminated. News 
came this morning that our troops had entered Richmond and Petersburg. 

April 10th, 1865. News came this morning of the surrender of Lee's 
army. A great time here, ringing of bells, firing cannon, illuminations; 
Richmond and Petersburg taken Monday. 

One picture of this time of rejoicing presents itself to me. 
The bell-man, on receipt of the news, hastened to the church 
to ring the glad peal that should tell the town the tidings. 



51 

Around the corner of the road, at an upper window of a house 
in sight, is an old lady, leaning far out, her gray locks loosened 
by the wind, and in her hand the apron she has caught off. 
The glad news has just reached her, and she watches for the 
glad peal that shall proclaim it wider and farther. The man 
comes in sight, and she, vigorously waving the apron in her 
hand, with a swing that belongs to youth, and her voice trem- 
bling with emotion, cries out, " Praise the Lord ! Ring ! 
ring ! " The woman is " Aunt Orpah Stearns " Davis, an 
early teacher of the town ; the bell-man, once her pupil. He 
thinks of " Barbara Frietchie." 

Another woman expressed her joy — or tried to — in an imi- 
tation of the Huguenot song of " Henry of Navarre." 

THE FALL OF RICHMOND. 

All glory to the Lord of Hosts! His arm salvation brings. 
How shall the tidings of this day sound through the halls of kings ! 
The strong-holds of oppression fall, when He his arm makes bare, 
And they who fight for Truth and Right His wondrous works declare. 

Our victor hosts march down the streets with joyous, gallant tread, 
Where lately strode defiant foes, with proud and lofty head. 
From halls where tyrants gave command, and bondmen bowed the knee, 
There floats afar the Stripes and Stars, that tell all men are free. 

Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, who reigns from sea to sea ! 
Like chaff before the whirlwind swift, the proud oppressors flee — 
They, who with sneering, mocking lips the " Higher Law " denied, 
And Justice's aims, and Mercy's claims, alike with scorn denied. 

The prison doors are opened wide, where starving Northmen lie ; 
And comrades stride with quickened step, to save them ere they die. 
While grim Want sits upon the seats where once sat Wealth and Power, 
And those they sold like brutes for gold, have made their proud hearts 

cower. 
All glory to the Lord of Hosts! tell distant lands the story! 
Our haughty foes the Lord o'erthrows. To Him be all the glory. 

L. A. o. 

If there seems to be asperity in this overflow of feeling, it 
must be remembered that boastful Concrressmen had sneered 



52 

jat the " higher law " of humanity ; called northern men " mud- 
sills; " and talked of the time coming when the " slave- 
driver's roll-call should be heard at the foot of Bunker Hill 
monument. " Our Union boys were, week by week, coming 
from the prison-pens of the south, the victims of starvation; 
and empty chairs in thousands of homes missed the strong, 
brave men who never more would fill them. In such circum- 
stances, one does not feel charitable. 

In how few days was this throb of universal joy to be 
succeeded by sobs of universal sorrow, all over the land ! 

From the journal I copy : 

Apr. 15th, 1865. Went to Filch burg. Got there at 11 : 30 o'clock. On 
entering the city, found the stores all closed, and learned that news had 
come that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre, at 10: 30 
o'clock last night (the 14th), and died this morning at 7:30 o'clock. They 
had a large meeting at the Town Hall in the afternoon at three o'clock. 
The services consisted of singing two hymns, reading of select passages 
of scriptures, and prayers by the several clergymen of the place. A deep 
gloom seems to have settled down on every countenance, and all seem 
to feel that they have lost a dear father and friend. An attempt was 
also made to assassinate Secretary Seward, but he was alive at last 
accounts. 

The mail containing the news of the President's death had 
not reached Boston when the train for New Ipswich came 
out. The news came to us by Fitchburg in the afternoon, and 
was confirmed by our evening mail. At a late hour on that 
night, the pastor's light was shining from his study. The 
next day's sermon on the death of the President, told how 
profoundly the young pastor's heart had been stirred by the 
event. 

Early Sunday morning C. H. Whitney came to the church 
from his store with his arms full of mourning goods, to be 
arranged about the gallery and pulpit, to express our sorrow 
at the universal loss. At noon a prayer meeting took the 
place of the Sunday-school. 

Wednesday, 19th, Mr. Obear wrote: 



53 

The funeral of the President took place at Washington at twelve o'clock 
today. There has been tolling of bells and firing of cannon all over the' 
€ountry. The bell vs^as tolled and cannon fired here, from 12 to 1 o'clock. 
A meeting was held at the church from 12 to 1 : 30 o'clock. The house 
was nearly filled, and the services very impressive. Doubtless there has 
been no president so devotedly loved by the people since "Washington. 
The mourning is like the mourning for Father and Friend. 

As has been seen, material aid had been extended to the 
ireedmeu, in connection with the aid of soldiers, as soon as 
the Emancipation Act was passed, or even before, when they 
€ame into our camps. 

Mr. Obear writes under date of 

Feb. 3d, 1865. Helping prepare for the levee. We all attended in the 
evening. Got home at 11 : 00 o'clock. Mr. Davis (a prominent anti-slav- 
ery man of Fitchburg) and Dr. Andrews spoke. Singing of three original 
songs by the Clark family; a large attendance and a good time. Net 
proceeds $124.78. 

Feb. 9th. Self and wife attended meeting at Union hall to settle up in 
regard to levee; also to form a Freedmen's Education Society, which we 
did on the stock plan — shares $1.00 each. Rev. Calvin Cutler was chosen 
president, C. H. Obear, secretary. Chose committee in each school dis- 
trict to solicit stock. Also chose a committee to draft a constitution for 
a Freedmen's Aid Society. 

Feb. 10th. Carried my wife over to Mr. Stephen Thayer's to get up the 
constitution for Freedmen's Aid. 

12th — Sunday. Sabbath-school concert at noon ; subject, " What can 
be done for the freedmen ? " Committee chosen to report. 

16th— Thursday. Attended meeting at Union hall to organize Freed- 
men's Aid. Report on constitution presented by Mrs. Obear and accepted,' 
and the society was organized. 

As the" books and papers of these two societies for the aid of 
freedmen cannot be found, the journal and memory will have 
to be the historians. Only what is known tO" be reliable w^ill 
be recorded. As a record speaks of " carrying the women to 
Soldiers' and Freedmen's Aid Society " March 8th, it is evi- 
dent that the work for the relief of both soldiers and freedmen 
went on together. 



54 

The committee chosen at the Sabbath-school concert «)f the previous 
month to report on " What can be done for the freedmen?" reported the 
following plan to the school for raising money toward supporting a teacher, 
viz., that the children take shares of 10 cts. each, for which they will 
receive certificates. 

This plan was successfully ^jarried out. I have a certificate 
before me. No doubt others in town have them laid away 
among their possessions. 

COPY. 

This certifies that ^ has taken S. S. Shares in the Stock of the 

Society for the support of a teacher among the Freedmen, for the year 
186 . 

Calvin Cutler, President. 

Clark H. Obear, Secretary. 

The " plan " was a success. The "grown-up children" of 
the Sabbath-school, many of them, took five or ten shares of 
the stock, and almost every child proudly carried home his 
" certificate." 

It will be borne in mind that there was, at this time, no 
regular church service or Sabbath-school maintained in town 
except at the Congregational church ; therefore the efforts of 
the united town are being recorded. There had been objec- 
tions made, when the first meeting was called in the interests 
of freedmen, to having the proposed teachers sent out under 
the auspices of the American Missionary Association. The 
objectors were few, but that there should be no genuine friend 
of the freedman " left out," the Freedmen's Educational Soci- 
ety was instituted, and for three successive years teachers were 
supported in the field, by the payment of 1200 a year. This, 
after all the contributions to the army support — yes, while 
they were yet being called for — and in the midst of the high 
prices consequent on war! 

Miss Sarah Thayer and Miss Frances Campbell were the 
young ladies sent as teachers — Miss Thayer, first, to Atlanta* 
Georgia ; Miss Campbell to Fortress Monroe, Virginia. Miss 
Thayer took with her $100 to the Am. Miss. Association. She 



55 

started the morning of the day after our troops entered Rich- 
mond. It is not remembered which of these teachers was in 
the field two years. One succeeded tlie other. Mrs. Elisabeth 
Preston sent valuable contributions, both material and educa- 
tional, through another channel, which were continued many 
years till her death. 

We will now return to the levee held for the freedmen Feb. 
3d. The " settlement " of the proceeds of this levee had been 
deferred an account of a proposed reunion of Appleton Acad- 
emy students, to bid Mr. Quimby farewell, before his departure 
to a professorship at Dartmouth College. He had been at the 
head of Appleton thirteen years. A silver tea-set was 
presented to Mr. Q., Rev. Perley Davis making the presenta- 
tion speech. In a review of the thirteen years, Mr. Quimby 
said 1350 students had been under his instruction. He paid a 
warm tribute to the memory of those who had fallen in defense 
of their country. This is a digression, but may not be unin- 
teresting to Mr. Quimby's former students. In the journal it 
was found between two records of the Freedmen's Aid. 

The more than $125, which had been ordered into the hands 
of the treasurer, was drawn from the treasury and applied to 
the relief of freedmen, as soon as the meeting could be called 
to vote on the subject. The meeting was held at Union hall, 
Feb. 9th, the evening of the formation of the "Educational 
Society." 

Tlie next morning after this meeting, Mrs. Stephen Thayer 
and Mrs. L. A. Obear — with her husband — left town to pur- 
chase material for skirts and sacques — Mrs. Thayer for Fitch- 
burg, to obtain gray flannel for the proposed skirts ; Mrs. 
Obear for Greenville, where denim was purchased of the 
Columbian Manufacturing Company. 

Women from every part of the town gathered as soon as 
notice could be given, in the upper vestibule of the church, 
with three sewing-machines, and in an incredibly brief time, 
about one hundred garments were manufactured and sent to 



56 

the half-frozen women and children, who were largely depen- 
dent for food on the benevolence of our army. 

The interest, the enthusiaam^ excited by this levee had been 
awakened by the most unsparing preliminary efforts on the 
part of the Soldiers' Aid Society, whose work was not yet 
done. There was put into the levee, the sympathy for the slave 
of the anti-slavery portion of our people, the patriotism that 
prompted to any service for the country of those that loved 
the Union, and common humanity. 

We will copy one of the original songs sung on that evening 
by the Clarks. And lioio they sang ! The song was an 
attempt to express the sentiments of such ex-slaves as had 
enlisted in Col. Shaw's, and other colored regiments. 



Freedmen's Song. 

All our bitter tasks are ended; 

All our unpaid labor done; 
Our galling chains are broken, 

And our onward march begun, 
For our cry has reached the temple 

Of the High and Holy One, 
And our God is marching on. 

Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 
Glory, glory, hallelujah! 
Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 
Our God is marching on! 

Down in the house of bondage 

We have watched and waited long. 

The oppressor's heel was heavy, 
The oppressor's arm was strong; 

A Great Deliverer leads us out, 
We'll sing a joyful song, 

As we go marching on. 

Glory, etc. 



Not vainly have we waited, 

Through the long and darkened years; 
Not vain the patient watching, 

'Mid our groans, and blood, and tears. 
For when the poor and needy cry, 

The Lord Jehovah hears, 
And our God is marching on ! 

Glory, etc. 

We must travel through the wilderness 

To reach the goodly land, 
But our hearts shall never falter. 

And our feet like rocks shall stand; 
Our trust is in the Mighty One, 

We're led by His right hand. 
And His Truth is marching on. 

Glory, etc. 

If like " de ole time people " 

We must in the desert die, 
Yet on the plains where freemen fell, 

Our whitening bones shall lie; 
And wives and children never more 

Shall lift the bondman's cry, 
For our God is marching on. 

Glory, etc. 

Then swell again the anthem ; 

Let it sound from sea to sea ! 
Like chaff before the whirwind swift, 

Oar proud enslavers flee. 
Jehovah's arm has triumphed 

And the sons of Ham are free, 
And His Truth still marches on. l. a. o. 



Chapter VIII. 

The four years' conflict was ended. The Union flag, that 
had been dragged in the dust, was proudly floating over every 
part of our vast heritage. 

No poet could longer tell that our Stripes and Stars were 
** Emblems of the negro's scars." None but free men were in 
all our borders. Was there more for the men and women 
of New Ipswich to do ? Our ex-slaves must be helped into 
manhood and citizenship ; must be aided in taking care of 
themselves, till they learned the lesson. Then the Educational 
and the Freedmen's Aid Societies must be kept up. 

The brave boys who were yet lying in our hospitals must be 
encouraged by our gifts till the state and national goverments 
made permanent provision for their welfare ; and the memory 
of those who had fallen must be perpetuated by monuments 
that should speak their devotion to the coming generations. 
Co-operation and help must be extended to the comrades who, 
year by year, would gather in our cemeteries to deck the 
graves of those who had been brought home from the battle- 
fields of the south, or would be laid there from their ranks. 
All these duties New Ipswich has performed with fidelity. 

THE MONUMENT ASSOCIATION 

was formed soon after the close of the war, and held various 
fairs, sociables, and other gatherings, to collect funds ; solicited 
contributions of money, etc. 

One ingenious conception of Mr. W. A. Preston's is recalled. 
A cluster of miniature tents, floating from one of which was a 
flag. On the others were empty flag-staffs. The flag was a 



59 

f 100 bill, placed there by his father Esq. John Preston. Him- 
self, and other men — C. H. Whitney, Hosea Eaton, etc. — 
supplied the flags to adorn the other staffs. 

The erection of the monument was at length secured, and. 
its dedication was held June 17th, 1878. A large concourse 
of spectators listened to a dedicatory prayer by the Rev. Hor- 
ace Parker, an oration by Gen. Griflin, and two poems written 
for the occasion by citizens. Mr. Wm. D. Locke, who had 
lost a son in the service, was the author of the first one, Mrs. 
C. H. Obear, the second, which was read by Rev. H. Parker, 
a New Ipsw^ich pastor. 

WM. D. Locke's poem. 
To the New Ipswich boys, who died defending the Union. 

Oh, patriot spirits, passed away, 
We dedicate this shaft today ! 
Not this shall make a full return — 
The chiseled stone is cold and stern. 

No laurels carved, or fresh flowers strown, 
Could make your worth more truly known, 
Your deeds untold will brighter glow. 
As years transpire, and blessings flow. 

But on the granite bosom fair 
Your names recorded, shall appear: 
Entrusted to the rock to tell, 
That in your country's cause you fell. 

And down to distant years shall go 

A cherished fragrance of the brave ; 
These shaft-engraven names shall show 

How precious were the lives they gave. 

Oh, Nation, when thy perils came, 

What numbers rushed to meet thy call ! 

The kindlings of a quenchless flame, 
Spread far abroad, inspiring all. 

Wide battlefields, where rest the dead. 

Attest the love thy sons have borne. 
Truly the choicest blood was shed ! — 

Peace to the graves of those we mourn I 



60 



MRS. OBEAR'S poem. 



They sleep in peace, whose blood was shed, 

That this broad land, from sea to sea— 
The land for which their fathers bled— 

Might one united nation he. 
No bugle-note, calling to arms, 

No distant tramp of coming foes. 
Nor listening watch for war's alarms. 

Disturbs their deep and long repose. 

They sleep in peace — the Boys in Blue, 

Who scorning peril, wounds and scars. 
Rallied to claims of country true, 

To save from stain our Stripes and Stars. 
The flag by traitors trampled on, 

Was lifted to its home on high: 
Its stars undimmed, its slave-blot gone. 

For this dear boon 'twas sweet to die. 

They sleep in peace— while June's blue skies 

Bend laughing down, o'er waving grain. 
And summer sunshine softly lies 

On fields that drank their blood like rain. 
And where were horses riderless, 

And dead and wounded, pile on piles, 
Are verdant grass, and flowers that bless 

The peaceful earth with their glad smiles. 

They sleep in peace— the patriot dead, 

Whose names are carved on yonder stone. 
Some, borne by men with silent tread, 

Their martial foot-steps stilled, alone 
Came home to rest in dreamless graves, 

'Neath skies, whose arch their childhood spanned, 
Where flower that whispers, tree that waves. 

Is stirred by winds that boyhood fanned. 

Others, afar, as peaceful sleep 

Where for the flag they fought and fell; 
No gathering comrades o'er them weep. 

Nor deeds of manly valor tell. 



61 



Their requiem blue Potomac sings, 
And stern Atlantic's heaving tide, 

And southern birds with strange bright wings 
In lone graves scattered far and wide. 

Sleep on, brave heroes! we have linked 

To-day your memory with those 
Whose lives were given to buy the land. 

You saved from its intestine foes. 
Not vain the blood for Freedom spilt ; 

The consummation may be slow. 
But fruitage certain it shall bring 

In the hereafter— this we know. 

Sleep on ! yon shaft will speak your fame 

To unborn freemen. And its page 
As they shall con it, name by name. 

Shall tell what cost their heritage, 
These states united— theirs to hold 

Against all traitorous, false device. 
For equal laws and equal rights; 

Eternal vigilance, the price. 



Chapter IX. 

With the account of the erection and dedication of the 
soldiers' monument, it was intended that this history of " What 
the Men and Women of New Ipswich did in our Civil War/' 
should close. 

The author had narrow means of ascertaining what the sons 
of New Ipswich had done who went into the field, and she 
proposed to confine herself to a detail, principally, of the work 
done by the sons and daughters of the town who remained at 
home. But a letter of inquiry addressed to Capt. Michael 
Donley, now of East Rindge, in regard to the Company which 
enlisted from this and the neighboring towns, elicited a reply 
so full of interest, and later so much information was obtained 
from the Captain, that an extension of the volume was resolved 
on. His ready and valuable assistance in gathering, at a large 
expense of time and labor, the names and record of his com- 
rades from the town, many of whom served with him through 
the entire war, made it possible to preserve what will be of 
value to the families of those who have fought for their 
country in the war of the rebellion. It may be sought for by 
coming generations, as has been the history of those who took 
part in our war for independence. 

In gathering the history of our enlisted soldiers from the 
tabulated reports of adjutant generals, and the histories of the 
several regiments that have been written, facts came to light 
that led to inquiry in regard to the personal record of some of 
our men. No doubt many whose personal experiences are 
just as worthy to be narrated will not be noted ; but those 
whose worthy deeds have come to my knowledge should not 
go unrecorded because the others are unknown. It is to be 



63 

feared that many returned and took their places in our ranks 
as private citizens, whose war records deserved, and should 
have won, the honorable recognition of citizens. Among these 
names stands prominently that of Capt. Michael Donley. 

A copy of a letter has fallen into ray hands addressed " To 
the Selectmen of New Ipswich," of whose existence I think 
few, if any of our citizens have known. I give but a few ex- 
tracts from it. It was dated 

Fort Clark, Texas, April 6th, 1884. 
To the Selectmen of the Town of New Ipswich, N. H. : 

In perusing the published records of our state, and the so called 
History of the 3d New Hampshire Volunteers during the ** War of the 
Rebellion," I find that the services of Capt. Michael P. Donley of your 
town, who marched and fought with the regiment from the commence- 
ment to the close of its brilliant career, have not received that fullness of 
honorable mention so richly deserved He was early known through- 
out his regiment as ** Little Mike Donley," when serving as private, 
teamster, musician, corporal, sergeant,— for through all these grades he 
served before attaining his captaincy. He was observed by all, as with 
cheerfulness, fidelity, and courage, he responded to any call; and while 
any of the " old ones " survive, he will always be remembered as among 

the truest and bravest who fought in our ranks He was with the 

regiment in its every march, and mustered with it in its every battle. . . . 

James F. Randlet, 
Capt. of 8th Cavalry, U. S. Army, late Lieut. Col. 3d Reg't N. H. Vols. 

Knowing that no knowledge of Capt. Donley's personal 
deeds could be obtained from himself, his answer to any 
solicitation always being, " I never blow my own horn," I 
wrote to Wm. H. Trickey, now Rev. Wm. H. Trickey, but 
formerly Major 3d N. H. Volunteers, and received the follow- 
ing reply to my inquiry in regard to Capt. Donley's war record. 

Claremont, N. H., July 14th, 1898. 
Dear Madam : Your letter regarding my esteemed comrade and much- 
loved friend is just at hand, and I hasten to say a few words that come 
readily from my heart. If they will help you any in placing a brave man 
in the place where he belongs, I shall be very glad. Should you desire a 
more elaborate paper than this, I will see what can be done. Perhaps you 
may think a short notice, and to the point, is quite as well. Wishing you 
abundant success in your work, I am 

Sincerely yours, W. H. Trickey. 



64 

Major Trickey says : 

Captain Douley was as brave a man as ever shouldered a musket or 
drew a sword. His six promotions were made on merit alone. He had 
no friends of influence at home to help, hut fought his way from a private 
soldier to the command of a company. 

I think he was in every one of the twenty-eight battles emblazoned on 
the colors of the old N. H. 3d. Certainly he fought with great gallantry 
throughout the entire Fort Wagner 'and Morris Island campaign, soon 
after which he re-enlisted for three years. He was soon made orderly 
sergeant, and for the grandeur of his deeds of daring, his high spirit of 
loyal devotion, and conceded ability at Drury Bluff, Brandon Bridge, 
Chester Station, and Wier Bottom Church, he received a commission. 

In the desperate struggle at Flussel's Mills, Aug. 16th, '64, where the 
regiment lost nearly half its officers and men, our hero was wounded, 
though he remained in the fight till our flag, which was pierced by sixty 
shots, was brought in triumphant from an abandoned field. 

In front of Petersburg, at New-Market Heights, Laurel Hill, Charles 
City Roads, Darbytown Roads — wheresoever shot and shell and leaden 
hail fell— there was found Mike Donley. And in the final severe strug- 
gle of his regiment it is not too much to say he covered himself with glory. 

At the notable assault on Fort Fisher, he was among the very bravest 
of the three thousand brave men who won imperishable honor there. At 
the very front of the fire-line he proved himself the incarnation of manly 
valor and lofty heroism, coupled with true ability and a spirit of chivalry. 

In his struggle to carry messages between his commander and Generals 
Ames, Abbot and Terry, his services were beyond estimate. Indeed I can 
hardly see how the regiment could have performed the great work it did 
on that eventful day, without his noble action. It has fallen to the lot of 
few men of equal rank to do so great a work as did Lieutenant Donley at 
Fort Fisher, for which he was made captain, and might have fittingly been 
given a much higher commission. The town that sent him to the war 
may well feel honored. There is no man of the old Third, from the 
highest to the lowest in rank, who is not glad to have served with so gal- 
lant a soul. 

That we stood shoulder to shoulder throughout the four years of crim- 
som strife, will ever be one of the proudest memories of my life; that 
now, a generation after the close of the mighty struggle, I have the abi- 
ding friendship of the kindly, generous, brave, true-hearted, manly man, 
is to me among the glories of living. 

Glorious old New Hampshire in all her proud history has sent no bra- 
ver man to the field, and bnt few have carved their names higher on her 
scroll of lofty action. Maj. Wm. H. Trickey. 



Chapter X. 

Here is another New Ipswich boy. Five of these boys, 
sons of our resident citizens, none of them but a little more 
than sixteen years of age, enlisted in September 1861. They 
were Edward Sanders (son of George), William Weston (son 
of Cyra L.), Edward Thayer, Fred Edwards (his mother a 
widow), and the other is not recollected. 

Among these was Edward A. Thayer, son of our long and 
well known citizens, Stephen and Joannah P. Thayer. 

*' He enlisted and mustered in Co. B, 3d Mass. Cavalry, as private ; went 
south with General Butler, camped on Ship Island for a long time, and 
went to New Orleans on its evacuation by the Confederates; commissioned 
as 1st lieutenant in the 1st Louisiana Cavalry, August 1862. He was at 
Donaldsonville in October 1862; at Labidous the same month, where 100 
men were lost, but 500 of the enemy were taken prisoners. In December 
was engaged in destroying the rebel gun-boat, Cotton, in Bayou Tesche; 
in 1863 assisted in destroying a fort on Dead Bayou, the fight lasting two 
days; then marched to Indian Bend to guard a bridge for Union soldiers 
to cross, and was daily engaged in skirmishing. Had a horse shot from 
under him at or near Opelousas, and in a week another shot from under 
him at Carrion Crow Bayou, while on a charge. 

He was at Port Hudson on the staff of Col. Flemming, commanding 
brigade, and raised a company for 2d Louisiana Cavalry at New Orleans, 
and was commissioned captain. Soon after, he resigned on account of ill 
health, and returned home — this boy of eighteen or nineteen years ! " 

From History of Thayer Family. 

We do well to remember what our boys suffered, as well as 
what they dared. I here give no extreme case. I have it 
from the pen of his sister. 

Warren Payson Locke enlisted from Carlisle, where he was 
at work, in Co. B, 32d Mass. Reg't of Volimteers, Nov. 1861, 
for three years. For some months the regiment was stationed 



66 

at Fort Warren, but in the spring of '62 they joined the army 
of the Potomac. When warm weather came, Payson was 
prostrated with typhoid fever, followed by severe abscesses, 
which kept him a long time in the hospital. 

In July, 1863, the regiment participated in the battle of 
Gettysburg, and Payson was wounded in the thigh during the 
day of July 3d. He lay upon the field through a drenching 
rain on the 4th, until the morning of the 5th, when an ambu- 
lance removed him to a temporary hospital, where he had 
surgical treatment. He was in the hospital till December, 
when he was granted a furlough of thirty days, and in January 
rejoined the regiment at Camp Liberty, Virginia. 

April 30th the 32d broke camp, and May 1st crossed the 
Rappahannock river for the fifteenth time, and encamped at 
Brandy Station. May 3d they left Culpepper and continued 
marching through " the Wilderness." May 5th they were hotly 
engaged in battle for several hours. May 21st they camped 
near the Fredericksburg and Richmond R. R., at Guiness 
Station, and had the first quiet rest since May 4th. During 
seventeen successive days and nights the regiment had been 
under arms, without an hour's respite and in the front ranks 
always. 

From May 21-27 they marched fifty or sixty miles, continu- 
ally skirmishing with the enemy. May 30th, at Mechanicsville, 
they had a running fight all day. 

The battle of Bethesda Church occurred June 3d. Here 
Payson was wounded in the thigh, but was able to keep with 
the regiment. At night as they were behind breastworks, and 
Payson was resting with his head on his knapsack, the enemy 
made a fiank movement, and a shot from a rebel sharpshooter 
struck him in the temple, killing him instantly. Buried in his 
blanket; " He sleeps in peace, but we know not where." No 
effort succeeded in finding him, when the war was over, but 
his comrades marked the spot where he lay, and he was 
probably removed to one of the national cemeteries. 



07 

And thus they sleep, brave men from New Ipswich, and 
from every village and hamlet of the North-land, in graves 
that no mother wets with tears, and no comrade decks with 
flowers. 

Each Boy in Blue in silence lies, 

Where mocking-birds and orioles sing, 

In green tents 'neath fair southern skies, 
Unheeding birds, or flowers that fling 

Their petals o'er the waving grass, 

Or summer winds that idly pass. 

Not distant far, the boys in Gray, 

Wrapped in their blankets, too, repose. 

Mistaken, they had gone astray; 

Brothers estranged had met as foes; 

The same brave blood flowed through each vein. 

Both fell as brave men, with the slain. 

Both sleep in green graves scattered wide — 
In cypress swamps, on hill-sides steep, 

In tangled woods, where streamlets glide. 
In mountain gorges, 'neath the deep. 

Long years both Blue and Gray have slept. 

Alike by sorrowing loved ones wept. 

Peace to your ashes, Boys in Blue! 

And peace to yours, who wore the Gray ! 
Your sons beneath one flag stand true, 

Shoulder to shoulder in the fray. 
While nations watch. For in their might, 
The Blue and Gray henceforth unite. 



The following table contains the names, etc., as far as they 
could be obtained, of all the soldiers who could properly be 
claimed by New Ipswich as her contribution to the army 
which saved the Union, and blotted chattel servitude from her 
escutchion. The names marked with a star (*) belonged by 
birth or residence, but were not credited to New Ipswich, 



68 



having enlisted from other towns or cities, in or out of New 
Hampshire. The names of substitutes are not given. They 
nearly all were of foreign birth and not really residents of the 
United States. Twenty-seven of these were accredited to 
New Ipswich, few of whom were a " credit " to themselves or 
the army. Enlistments were for three years, unless otherwise 
noted. 













Rank when 


NAMES 


Age 


Enlisted 


Co. 


Regiment 


Discharged 


Chandler, James 0. 


24 


May '61 


I, 


2d N. H. 


Captain 


Wright, Edward 


38 


n 


G, 


i< 




Gould, Charles S. 


24 


<( 


g! 


a 




Donley, Michael P. 


24 


July '61 


E, 


3d N. H. 


Captain 


Nutting, Geo. P. 


25 


Aug. '61 


E, 


" 


1st Sergeant 


Robinson, Chas., 1st, 


45 


u 


E, 


<' 




Eddy, John C. 


38 


Sept. '61 


3d class 


4th N. H. 


Musician 


Knowlton, Wm. R. 


38 


Aug. '61 


I, 


<< 


Corporal 


Nutting, John C. 


28 


Sept. '61 


I, 


(( 


2d Lieut. 


Nutting, Chas. B. 


24 


Aug. '61 


c, 


(( 




Shattuck, John B. 


26 


Nov. '61 


I, 


<< 




Wheeler, Josiah P. 


28 


Aug. '61 


I, 


(( 




Nutting, Jonas 


56 


Nov. '61 


K, 


6th N.H. 


1st Lieut. 


Nutting, Chas. S. 


23 


Oct. '61 


K, 


(( 




Nutting, James F. 


16 


<( 


K, 


(( 




Mansfield, Jona'n F. 


43 


(( 


K, 


(< 




Mansur, Wm. E. 


45 


(( 


K, 


(< 




Marvin, James H. 


28 


Nov. '61 


K, 


(( 




Frizzell, Wm. B. 


36 


(( 


K, 


<< 


1st Sergeant 


Gardland, James 


24 


Oct. '61 


K, 


(i 


Sergeant 


Hull, Chas. H. 


27 


a 


K, 


i( 


2d Lieut. 


LeRoy, David 


34 


(( 


K, 


(( 


Drummer 


Shattuck, Geo. W. 


18 


«< 


K, 


(( 


Corporal 


Pike, John 


45 


«( 


K, 


i( 


Drummer 


Simonds, Willard 


25 


(< 


K, 


<( 




Simpson, James 


30 


(( 


K, 


<( 




Swallow, Andrew S. 


37 


(( 


K, 


(( 




Reddy, Patrick 


36 


Nov. '61 


K, 


(( 


Corporal 


Walton, Charles 


45 


Oct. '61 


K, 


(( 


Corporal 


Wright, Albert F. 


19 


Nov. '61 


K, 


(( 




Wright, Charles A. 


19 


(( 


K, 


<( 


Sergeant 


Davis, Albert H. 


24 


(< 


K, 


(( 




Smith, George 


19 


<< 


K, 


(< 


Corporal 


Gates, Benson E. 


21 


u 


K, 


<( 




Hardy, Wm. H. 


20 


Oct. '61 


K, 


<( 




Appleton, Eugene F. 


24 


(( 


G, 


13th N. H. 




Avery, James E. 


23 


(< 


G, 


<( 




Blood, Luther 


26 


(< 


G, 


n 




Blanchard,Thos. W. 


18 


<( 


G, 


(< 


Corporal 



69 

J. O. Chandler enlisted in 2d N. H. Infantry for three months; was dis- 
charged for disability; re-enlisted; appointed Captain Co. C 1st N. H. 
Heavy Artillery September 1864. 

E. Wright wounded at Williamsburg, Va., May 1862. 

M. P. Donley enlisted as Wagoner; resigned; appointed Corporal, then 
Sergeant; re-enlisted in February 1864; wounded at Deep Bottom, 
Va., appointed 1st Sergt. May '64; 2d Lieut. Co. C June '64; Ist 
Lieut. Oct. '64; appointed Captain of Co. E April 1865. 

G. P. Nutting enlisted as private ; was appointed Sergeant October 1862. 

John C. Eddy mustered out with the 4th N. H. Regiment Band at Hilton 
Head, S. C. 

William R. Knowlton enlisted as Corporal ; discharged for disabilities at 
St. Augustine, Florida; enlisted in Co. E Veteran Reserve Corps Aug. 
1864; discharged 1865. 

J. C. Nutting re-enlisted February 1864; appointed Sergeant; promoted to 
2d Lieutenant August 1865 ; not mustered in— war closed. 

Charles B. Nutting wounded at Petersburg, July 1864; term of service 
expired. 

John B. Shattuck died at Morris Island. 

J. P. Wheeler captured at Drury's Bluff May 3864; accidentally killed on 
cars en route from Andersonville to Savannah prison. 

Jonas Nutting resigned in 1862 ; had four sons in the army. 

C. S. Nutting died of disease at Roanoke Island, N. C. 

J. F. Nutting at Annapolis, Md. 

J. F. Mansfield killed at Petersburg. 

W. E. Mansur died from wounds received at Bull Run August 1862, in 
Fairfax General Hospital, Va. 

W. B. Frizzell appointed Corporal November 1861 ; wounded August '62 
at Bull Run; appointed Sergeant; wounded December 1862 at Fred- 
ericksburg; transferred; discharged as 1st Sergeant at termination of 
service. 

C. H. Hull appointed Sergeant November 1861; 1st Sergeant 1862; woun- 

ded at Bull Run, August 1862 ; appointed 2d Lieut. September 1862. 

D. LeEoy re-enlisted in 1864 in 13th N. H. ; discharged 1865. 

G. W. Shattuck enlisted for two years; re-enlisted in December 1863; 
transferred to Veteran Relief Corps ; discharged in New York. 

J. Pike died of disease at Winchester, Kentucky. 

Andrew S. Swallow died of disease at Newberne, N. C. 

Patrick Reddy appointed Corporal November 1861; wounded August 
1862 at Bull Run ; died of disease at Milldale, Miss. 

A. F. Wright with his twin brother enlisted Nov. 12, 1861 ; discharged for 
disability; re-enlisted in a Massachusetts regiment December 1863. 

C. A. Wright re-enlisted January 1864; captured May 1864 in the battle 
of the Wilderness; released; appointed Corporal June 1865; Ser- 
geant July 1865; mustered out with the regiment. 

George Smith appointed Corporal November 1861. 

Benson Gates died of disease at Annapolis, January 1862. 

T. Blanchard promoted to Corporal; wounded severely at Fort Harrison. 



70 



Boodry, Augustus 
Carr, Edward J. 
Cragin, Abner C. 
Fletcher, Benjamin 
Sherwood, Freeman 
Fuller, Andrew C. 
Knowlton, John F. 
McDonald, Jonathan 
Nicholas, Warren C. 
Nutting, George H. 
Pratt, Charles H. 
Pratt, David F. 
Proctor, Amos J. 
Oliver, Lucius C. 
Wilson, William H. 
Whitney, John H. 
Hubbard, George H. 
Isaacs, Charles E. 
Peavy, Wallace 
Ray, Walter 
Sheldon, Charles B. 
Hildreth, Hartwell A. 
Smith, Augustus 
Smith, Gideon 
Boyce, James L. 
Blanchaid, Edw. F.* 
Sanders, Edward A. 
Weston, William L. 
Thayer, Edward 
McDonald, Michael 
Edwards, Geo. Fred. 
Weston, Frank 
Walker, John K. 
Locke, W. Payson* 
Judkins, Samuel 
Hickock, Thomas 
Fisher, Albert G. 
Fowler, John H.* 
Fowler, Arch'ldC* 
Bolton, Charles S. 
Porter, George H.* 
Wilkins, Tracy* 
Hubbard, W. H.* 
Tolman, Charles* 
Whittemore, Charles 
Nutting, Allen A. 
Potter, George E.* 
Chapman, Edward 
McConnell, Jonath'n 
Davis, Edwaid E.* 
Lee, Samuel W.* 
Stratton, Jesse* 
Stratton, Henry, 
Kehue, George 
Baxter, Albert F. 
Chas. H. Granger, 



18 Oct. '61 G, 


13th N. H. 




19 


G, 


(< 




23 


G, 


(( 




35 


G, 


<< 




23 '* 


G, 


a 




29 


G, 


(t 




19 


G 


(< 




38 


G 


(< 




28 


G 


<i 




25 


G, 


(( 




24 


Gr, 


(( 




22 


G, 


(( 


Sergeant 


31 


G, 


(( 




22 ♦< 


G. 


(( 


1st Lieut. 


21 


G, 


<( 




23 " 


Wage 


mer 




22 Sept. '62 


H, 


10th N. H. 


Captain 


18 Mch. '65 




1st N. H. Cav. 




19 " '64 


M, 


(( 




18 Dec. '61 


M, 


.(( 




30 


M, 


(( 


Corporal 


<( 


4thN.H. Hv.Art. 




22 " 


M, 


1st N. H. Cav. 




21 '' 


m; 


♦* 


1st Sergeant 


20 " 


E, 


16th N. H. 




19 Aug. '64 


4th Mass. Hv.Art. 




16 Nov. '61 




3d Mass. Cav. 




16 




(( 




16 




(( 


Captain 


20 " 




(( 


1st Lieut. 


16 




(( 




25 July '61 


B, 


15th Mass. 




22 Nov. '61 


B, 


32d Mass. 




22 July '61 


G, 


21st Mass. 




20 June '61 


K, 


11th Mass. 




23 Oct. '61 


2d U. S. Sh.Shoots. 


1st Lieut. 


41 Sept. '62 


F, 


47th Mass. 




19 


F, 


(( 




23 July^'ei 


H, 


17th Mass. 




n 


H, 7th Mass. Lt. Art 




May^ '61 








(( 




(< 




16 1861 


E, 


2nd Mass. 




18 


D, 


<( 


Sergeant 


26 July '63 


H, 


16th Mass. 






Record not obtained 




i( 


F, 


1st Minn. 




16 Aug. '63 


F, 


6th 111. Cav. 




28 










Record not obtained 




38 Aug. '62 










G, 


2dN.H. 




39 1862 


B, 


36th Illinois, 





71 

A. Boodry wounded severely at Fort Harrison, Virginia, January 1864 ; 
appointed Corporal ; transferred to Veterans' Reserve Corps. 

E. J. Carr wounded severely at Cold Harbor, June 1864. 

A. Cragin discharged from Camp Rowen, Virginia; in prison too long to 
rally. Died at his mother's in New Ipswich. 

John F. Knowlton died at Newport News, Virginia, 1863. 

W. a Nicholas killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, 1864. 

Geo. H. Nutting died of wounds received at Cold Harbor, Virginia; died 
in Washington, D. C. 

L. C. Oliver appointed 2d Lieutenant, May 1863; 1st Lieut. March 1865. 

J. Whitney served as Wagoner in the 13th through the war. 

Charles E. Isaacs became totally blind from spotted fever. 

W. Peavy wounded November 1864 at Middleton, Va. 

W. Ray killed at Lacy's Springs, Va. 

C. B. Sheldon captured in June 1863; re-enlisted in 1864; appointed Cor- 
poral ; again captured in 1864. 

A. Smith killed at Columbia, Tenn. 

Edward F. Blanchard enlisted for one year. 

E. Thayer promoted to 1st Lieutenant Co. B 1st Louisiana Cavalry, 
August 1862; to Captain 1863. 

Michael McDonald promoted to 1st Sergeant; re-enlisted February 1864 •, 
appointed 1st Lieutenant August 1864; mustered out at close of war. 

F. Weston, son of Cyra L. Record not obtained. 
J. Walker killed at Ball's Bluff. 

W. P. Locke killed by a rebel sharpshooter. 

John H. Fowler enlisted for nine months. 

Archibald C. Fowler enlisted for nine months. 

C. S. Bolton wounded March 1865; discharged for wounds. 

Allen A. Nutting killed at Fredericksburg 1862. 

G. E. Potter wounded June 1864; transferred to Co. F 11th Massachusetts. 
Edw. E. Davis wounded at Fair Oaks June '62; taken prisoner by Gen. Lee ; 

paroled; died at Fortress Monroe of wounds neglected when in prison. 

Samuel W. Lee enlisted for the war. 

Henry Siratton enlisted in a Connecticut regiment; was a good soldier. 

Jesse Stratton (his brother, sons of Seth Stratton), was in the Confeder- 
ate States, engineer on a railroad. When General Terry entered 
Wilmington, No. Carolina, he ran his engine into the Union lines. 
Gen. Terry made him foreman of a locomotive shop in Wilmington. 
"A true Union man to the backbone," a soldier says. (In New Ips- 
wich he has been supposed a " Confederate.") 

George Kehue mustered in as Corporal; discharged June 1865. 

Albert F. J5axier enlisted for 3 months; re-enlisted for 3 years; wounded. 

J. Louis Hildreth (now Dr. J L. Hildreth of Cambridge) served on guard 
when Washington was threatened, and afterward went into the ser- 
vice of United States Sanitary Commission in New Orleans. 



W 106 



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^*=^ INDIANA 46962 



